When Han Li acquired this information from his puppet, his mind underwent a massive shock.
Before he secluded himself, he did pour a few drops of the Returning Sun Water on the Profound Goddess’ Palm out of curiosity, but it remained as dead as ever. But with the news of its revival, he could hardly believe it.
Han Li promptly made his way into the medicine garden.
The Profound Goddess’ Palm was placed next to several other precious spirit medicines such as the Ninecurl Ginseng.
When he arrived, he clearly saw the current condition of the Profound Goddess’ Palm. Despite what mental preparations he made, he was fully shocked.
Originally, the green liquid from the small mysterious bottle only changed its color green slightly but it remained completely dry. But now, its palms spread throughout the ground and climbed up on many white jade stone pillars. It was lush, green, and filled with life. The vine emitted a faint scent that exceeded the qualities of the medicines in the garden. Even the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng’s white rabbit incarnation felt at ease sleeping on one of the vine roots.
When Han Li arrived near it, the white rabbit’s ears moved and its fire-red eyes opened a sliver and resumed its nap after seeing it was Han Li.
After several hundred years of contact with Han Li, the Ninecurl Ginseng’s incarnation had begun to treat Han Li’s garden as its own. Under his protection, the rabbit hadn’t encountered the slightest danger and no longer felt any danger towards him.
Han Li remained silent and didn’t bother it. Rather, he began to examine the vine.
Apart from emitting an astonishing spiritual Qi, the revived Profound Goddess’ Palm appeared no different from ordinary vines. But under careful examination, one could find a few peculiar differences.
The vine’s color was emerald green, but its surface seemed to give off a metallic sheen. Additionally, the veins of the vine’s leaves were bizarre. Each one was distinct but were somewhat familiar.
Han Li silently gazed at the leaves and his heart stirred as something came to mind.
The vein patterns had a faint resemblance to the silver runes on the golden jade tome.
He frowned and examined a dozen more leaves before eventually discovering something wondrous.
The leave patterns were written in half of the silver rune scripts as if they were written only to half completion.
Han Li was amazed for a long while. Eventually, he brought himself to touch the leaves with his fingers.
They were sleek and smooth as if he touched fine jade.
He stroked his chin and began to wear a pensive expression.
At that moment, he thought to call out to the Soaring Sky Beast and ask it a few questions related to the profound spirit trees, but he finally decided not to.
As of current, the child was most likely cultivating inside the Heavenvoid Cauldron. He was completely ignorant of what was happening.
Even since he returned to his cave residence, he wanted to make use of the cauldron’s power and completely severed the demon’s connection to the outside.
So long as he remained in secluded cultivation, he wouldn’t release the demon beast to prevent any of his secrets from being made known.
As such, the Soaring Sky Beast didn't have any knowledge of the small mysterious bottle.
As for any rumors or legends regarding the Profound Goddess’ Palm, Han Li had already researched them.
According to a few creation myths, when life sprung from primal chaos, the profound heavens came, being lifted with the appearance of spirit trees. Regardless of the spirit tree, it would spring flowers and grow fruit that granted inconceivable abilities that ignored the laws of the world. They were true heaven-defying treasures.
However, these were only rumors during ancient times. He had never seen it for himself.
However, for this to be mentioned several times in ancient records could be considered to be substantial. Furthermore, they had unique growth cycles that spanned a hundred thousand years, but their flowers would bloom and bear fruits that lasted only a few days or even a few hours.
Under such a time, their ripeness would deteriorate quickly, meaning that it would only be wishful thinking for anyone to harvest them.
Only the flowers and fruits of profound heavenly trees are the only ones that possess heaven-breaking abilities that can ignore the laws of the world. As for vines and wood, they could only be materials for tool refinement. They were nowhere near as valuable.
Although Han Li didn’t have the child know of the small portion of the Profound Goddess’ Palm root in his possession, he didn’t plan on having him know of its revival with the Returning Sun Water Either.
Even if the Profound Goddess’ Palm found its way into someone else’s possession, it would be of little value as they couldn't acquire its flowers or fruit. But it would tempt others nevertheless and cause huge problems. And with his small mysterious bottle, if he could use it to mature the vine, he should be able to acquire its fruits and flowers after two or three hundred years. He wasn’t about to give up on such a grand opportunity.
If he allowed the child to know of this matter, who knows if he could get that information to his main body in the spirit realm. That was just asking for trouble.
In any case though, the Soaring Sky Beast should know far more about the tree than he did. But with further thought, he gave up on the idea.
Having come to his decision, he let out a long sigh and placed down several profound restrictions around the plant, causing the medicine garden to resume its original appearance.
Three days later, Han Li left the puppet at the cave residence as he called out to Lu Luo and his other sect elders, informing them of his departure.
He later appeared above a nameless mountain in the Scattered Star Seas and disappeared past the horizon in an azure streak.
One night several months later, in the Star Palace temple at the top of Heavenly Star City, a beautiful woman in white palace robes was sitting down on a mat in a hidden room. Her eyes were closed, her hands were in an incantation gesture and white light roamed across her body as if she were cultivating something.
As the spiritual light flickered continuously a trace of pain appeared on the woman’s face.
The white light pulsed in brightness and just as it appeared to lose control, the woman ceased her incantation gesture and halted her cultivation.
Following that, the white light from her body eventually dissipated.
She let out a sigh and opened her eyes, unconsciously looked around her.
The woman was immediately frightened and shock appeared on her face.
Sitting at the corner of the room was a person with their arms behind his back. He was looking at her with a mysterious smile.
“Brother Han, so it is you.” The woman relaxed after clearly seeing his face and sweetly smiled. But through the depth of her beauty was a faint trace of fear.
This was an important area for the Star Palace. There were over thirty layers of restrictions present but he was able to sneak in without alerting her.
“Fellow Daoist Ling, in the years we haven’t seen each other, your grace remains strong. However, your cultivation technique seems unsuitable.” Han Li spoke with a slight smile.
“As you’ve said, there must be a problem with my cultivation. I’ve been meaning to seek some guidance from an expert. Now that you’re here, I’ll have to make a request.”
Han Li chuckled, “Oh? Guidance will be out of the question, but I’ll give you my thoughts after you speak. But before that, I want to retrieve the Essensefuse Mountain.”
Ling Yuling was stunned and hesitantly asked, “Of course, it was something you left in our care after all. However, how do you intend on moving it?”
“I have a way, but I don’t know if it will truly work. I can only give it a try.” Han Li slowly replied.
With surprise briefly appearing on her face, she answered, “In that case, I’ll guide you there.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Ling!” Han Li nodded with satisfaction.
Two hours later, the two arrived in a passage underneath the mountain, arriving in front of a large jade door.
Ling Yuling released the seal on the door with the command medallion in her hand and it slowly opened.
Han Li let out a sigh and slowly walked in.
Ling Yuling followed after some hesitation.
The past scene appeared once more.
As they walked past the gate, the elemental power immediately immersed them and violently stirred the spiritual power in their bodies to rush out.
However, Han Li was now at the peak of late-Nascent Soul stage with far denser and purer magic power than before. He wasn’t about to allow his spiritual power to be absorbed.
He immediately circulated his cultivation art and suppressed the oddities occurring in his body. Then with his hands held in an incantation gesture, he slowly focused on the center of his chest.
A crackle sounded. An egg-sized ball of light appeared, glowing with five-colored light that roamed across its surface.
Suddenly, nearby elemental light coiling around Han Li immediately dimmed by a third.
Standing behind him, Ling Yuling could sense the changes of elemental power and smiled, “Congratulations Brother Han, you’ve completed the first layer of the Divine Essensefuse Light.”
“If I hadn’t refined the light to this point, I wouldn’t have been able to shift the mountain,” Han Li casually replied with a chuckle.
Ling Yuling couldn't help but urge, “Although you only cultivated the first layer of the Divine Essensefused Light, you can move the mountain. But I fear it won’t be an easy matter to take it. If Brother Han’s method isn’t effective, wouldn’t it be better to join our palace? You have my guarantee that no one will disturb your cultivation and that you will have priority over our resources.”
Han Li glanced at Ling Yuling and indifferently said, “Fellow Daoist Ling doesn’t need to mention it again. If I intended on entering the palace, I would’ve already done so. As for whether my method will work, I’ll have to give it a try first.”
