A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm
Chapter 1226: Crisis Averted

Chapter 1226: Crisis Averted

Han Li and Chi Meng walked along side by side for a short while, and after rounding a corner, they were greeted by the sight of a spacious valley, within which was a forest of golden maple trees that were shimmering with a splendid, golden hue under the light of the sun.

It was indeed a rare and marvelous spectacle to behold.

"These trees are called Rippling Golden Maples, a rare species of spirit tree that's only found in places abundant with metal-attribute spiritual qi. In addition to their beauty, they also give off a gentle, metal-attribute aura that's very beneficial to physical cultivation," Chi Meng introduced.

"Is that right? I'm surprised you're so knowledgeable about matters related to physical cultivation, Celestial Maiden Chi Meng," Han Li praised.

As soon as he arrived in the forest, he had already noticed the nourishing effect that these trees had on his physical body.

"When it comes to physical cultivation, I can't even hope to hold a candle to you, Fellow Daoist Chang. How were you able to reach such staggering heights in your physical cultivation? What's our secret?" Chi Meng asked with an alluring smile.

"Everyone has different physical constitutions, and there are countless bodily cultivation methods out there. I'm always out traveling to different regions, and I was able to open some profound acupoints through some strokes of fortune," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.

"I see. It looks like traveling the world really is immensely beneficial. I also need to get out more when the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to explore many immortal regions. Not long ago, I made a trip to Gilded City, and I encountered quite a bit of trouble there," Chi Meng sighed in a wistful manner.

"Oh? What type of trouble are you referring to?" Han Li asked, doing his best to maintain a calm facade in spite of the rising unease in his heart.

"I traveled to Gilded City under orders from the Heavenly Court to capture a wanted fugitive. However, due to some intervention, not only did the fugitive get away, the people accompanying me were all killed," Chi Meng replied as a cold look appeared in her eyes.

"Oh? Who would be so brazen as to interfere with the Heavenly Court's official matters? Were they accomplices of that fugitive?" Han Li asked.

"I don't know, but one of them possessed tremendous physical prowess just like yourself, Fellow Daoist Chang," Chi Meng replied as a meaningful look appeared in her eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Celestial Maiden Chi Meng? You're not suspecting me, are you? I was summoned back to the Prominent Mountain Sect in secret several thousand years ago in preparation to compete for a Bodhi Token, and I've been cultivating in seclusion this entire time. If you don't believe me, you can feel free to come to our Prominent Mountain Sect to cross-examine my story," Han Li said as he feigned a nonchalant expression.

It seemed that despite his best efforts, he was still unable to avoid rousing Chi Meng's suspicions.

Then again, this was no surprise. Great Encompassment cultivators were extremely sensitive, so even though his Reincarnation Palace mask was able to perfectly disguise his aura, there were still inevitably going to be some holes in his act.

"I believe you, Fellow Daoist Chang, but it can't hurt to be careful," Chi Meng said with a faint smile as she flipped a hand over to summon a white ball that was etched with countless golden patterns, and there was also a white vortex inside, giving it a very mysterious appearance.

"What's this?" Han Li asked.

"It's called an Omniscient Globe, and it excels in detecting for law powers. If you're really not the person that I'm looking for, then I'm sure you'd have nothing to fear under the scrutiny of my Omniscient Orb, isn't that right, Fellow Daoist Chang?"

Chi Meng was staring intently at Han Li as she spoke, and at the same time, Han Li could sense several powerful auras locking onto him from all directions in the forest.

"You're suspecting me of wrongdoing just because of my physical prowess, and you're even going as far as to examine my law powers? Don't you think you're being too unreasonable, Celestial Maiden Chi Meng?" Han Li asked in a disgruntled manner.

"I understand that I'm being a little unreasonable, but I have to make sure. If you really aren't the person that I'm looking for, then I'm willing to offer you a formal apology," Chi Meng said as she extended a slight curtsey, but her gaze remained fixed intently on Han Li.

"You're an extremely important figure in the Heavenly Court and the granddaughter of Dao Ancestor Chi Rong, while I'm just an elder of the tiny Prominent Mountain Sect, so of course I'm in no position to refuse. However, before you begin, I would like you to tell me what type of law powers the person you're looking for has mastered. Otherwise, I'm worried that you'll frame me for a crime that I didn't commit," Han Li harrumphed coldly.

They were currently still in the Nine Origins Temple, so if he refused to let Chi Meng carry out her investigation, that would only attract more attention to himself.

At this point, he could only pray that his black Reincarnation Palace could fool Chi Meng's Omniscient Globe.

With that in mind, he channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra to conceal all of his time law powers deep within his own body, and his spiritual sense also retreated deep into his consciousness.

All of a sudden, the condensed time law powers in his body abruptly collapsed inward to form an egg-sized golden ball.

The ball was smooth and round, and all of his time law powers were perfectly contained within it without even the slightest amount of leakage.

Han Li was rather taken aback to see this.

Chi Meng was unbothered by Han Li's frosty attitude, offering him a faint smile as she replied, "The person that I'm looking for is a cultivator of the laws of time. Thank you for your cooperation, Fellow Daoist Chang."

The golden patterns on the white ball instantly began to glow radiantly at her behest, while the vortex within it also began to revolve even more rapidly as it released a burst of invisible energy fluctuations that swept over Han Li's body.

His immortal spiritual power immediately began to tremble before being involuntarily brought to the fore.

Bursts of black light surfaced over his body, tinged with specks of golden lightning.

The black light represented Chang Qi's law powers, while the golden lightning came from the lightning law powers imbued within Han Li's Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

Having been refined recently, the law powers contained within Han Li's Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had changed drastically, so there was no danger of the swords blowing his cover.

As for his time law powers, they were concealed deep in his body in an extremely stable fashion, completely unaffected by the Omniscient Globe.

Han Li was ecstatic to see this, but on the surface, he continued to maintain a facade of indignant fury.

Chi Meng's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but she was still unconvinced and injected even more immortal spiritual power into the Omniscient Globe.

The immortal spiritual power in Han Li's body began to tremble more vigorously, revealing even more black light and golden lightning, but there were no additional changes aside from that.

"Have you seen enough?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.

Chi Meng hesitated momentarily, then cast an incantation seal toward the white ball, and the light emanating from it instantly faded away.

The unrest in the immortal spiritual power in Han Li's body also subsided, and the black and golden light around him quickly faded away.

"Looks like I was wrong to have suspected you, Fellow Daoist Chang. Please accept my sincerest apologies," Chi Meng said in an apologetic manner.

"There's no need to apologize to me. Is there anything else I can help you with? If not, then I'll be taking my leave," Han Li harrumphed coldly, then turned to depart before Chi Meng had a chance to respond.

Chi Meng looked on as Han Li departed from the forest, and judging from her expression, it seemed that her suspicions still hadn't been completely erased.

......

After leaving the golden maple forest, Han Li immediately returned to the Prominent Mountain Sect branch.

As soon as he returned, he was immediately approached by an anxious Zhou Xianyang, who asked, "Did Chi Meng ask to see you because she was suspicious of your identity, Fellow Daoist Han?"

"No, she was just interested in how I was able to progress so far in my physical cultivation and wanted to ask me some questions," Han Li replied, deciding not to reveal the truth to Zhou Xianyang in case he reported the matter to Wyrm 3 and Wu Yang.

He had already completed his mission, and he didn't want anything to go wrong as that could potentially give the Reincarnation Palace second thoughts about giving him the information that they had on Jin Tong.

Zhou Xianyang was quite relieved to hear this, and he nodded in response.

"Now that you mention it, I'm also quite curious about how you were able to reach this level in your physical cultivation. Is there some secret that you can share? I'm willing to offer fifty million Immortal Origin Stones in exchange," Zhou Xianyang said with a look of fervent interest in his eyes.

"I'm afraid there's no secret for me to tell. I was able to progress to this point solely through a series of strokes of fortune," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, and a disappointed look appeared on Zhou Xianyang's face upon hearing this.

"I've already fulfilled my end of the agreement and secured a Bodhi Token for your Prominent Mountain Sect, when are you going to satisfy my request?" Han Li asked.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han. Fellow Daoist Wu Yang has already been made aware of your mission completion, and he's already given me what you want, but I'm afraid I can only relay the information to you once I've gotten my hands on the Bodhi Token," Zhou Xianyang replied with an apologetic smile.

"That's a reasonable arrangement. In that case, I'll just have to wait seven more days," Han Li said with a slight nod.

After that, the two of them chatted for a while longer before parting ways.

......

Seven days flew by in a flash, and Han Li returned to the Nine Origins Temple with the Prominent Mountain Sect cultivators.

A cultivator from the Nine Origins Temple was already waiting at the entrance of the temple, and they led the Prominent Mountain Sect cultivators deeper into the temple.

Han Li was walking along with everyone else while surreptitiously scanning his surroundings.

He had already asked Lan Yan to tell him about as much of the temple's layout as she could, and she had also drawn him a map.

The Nine Origins Temple took up an enormous area, and it was split up into the inner temple and the outer temple.

Unfortunately, given Lan Yan's lackluster status in the sect, she was only permitted to move around in the outer temple, and she had only been to the inner temple once or twice. Hence, the map of the outer temple was quite detailed, while only several locations of the inner sect had been marked out.

However, the area that they were currently passing through was clearly illustrated on Lan Yan's map, and that was quite reassuring to Han Li.