"Looks like I really have been too tense of late," the black-furred Rong being said as his lips twitched slightly.
"Hehe, we can rest easy now after that," the white-furred Rong being said with a smile, seemingly completely unperturbed by his companion’s abrupt actions.
The black-furred Rong being nodded before closing his eyes, and the white-furred Rong being did the same after sweeping his gaze through the passageway up ahead one final time.
Thus, Han Li passed silently between them, and neither of them opened their eyes as Han Li made his way through the massive azure door.
Only then did he truly heave a sigh of relief. It was very fortunate that the Rong being had unleashed a physical attack that was ineffective against his current body. If he had used a magic attack instead, even the simplest of fireballs would've forced him to reveal himself.
After passing through the azure door, Han Li traversed through the passageway before disappearing around a corner.
This secret cave truly was an architectural masterpiece!
There were countless passageways of different sizes that fanned out like a cobweb, and most of these passageways had been formed naturally.
As such, this place was like a befuddling maze to those exploring it for the first time. Thankfully, Han Li had the map of the secret cave that the elderly man had given him, so he knew exactly what route to take. After a short while, he finally arrived before a natural cave.
This was a cave that was over 300 feet in size with a faint white stone wall on one side. There were rows of golden runes carved over the stone wall, all of which were shimmering with mysterious spiritual light.
Han Li's heart abruptly jolted upon seeing this, and he swept his gaze through the cave to discover that there was a Rong being wearing a conical bamboo hat sitting in front of the stone face.
He wore a contemplative look on his face, and he seemed to be inspecting the text on the stone wall.
This was rather troublesome to Han Li. The text on the stone wall was undoubtedly the objective for his trip, but if he wanted to use a secret technique to replicate this text, there was no way for him not to alert this Rong being.
Han Li stood silently at the entrance of the cave with his brows tightly furrowed in contemplation.
Meanwhile, the Rong being was appraising the stone wall intently while making a hand gesture from time to time, seemingly completely immersed in attempting to decipher the text on the wall.
Han Li finally made a decision upon seeing this.
He slowly drifted toward this Rong being, and in the blink of an eye, he was only 40 to 50 feet away and continued to close in.
However, the Rong being was still completely oblivious to his presence, clearly immersed in the text on the wall.
Han Li was quite elated to see this, and when he was less than 20 feet away from this Rong being, he finally sprang into action.
Golden light flashed from his body, and he abruptly revealed himself before raising a hand to launch a small black mountain that was enshrouded within grey light. At the same time, his golden body appeared behind him in a flash, and all six of its golden arms were thrust toward the Rong being in unison.
The Rong being was instantly jerked out of his immersive state, and green light flashed from his body as he attempted to unleash some kind of secret technique to flee the scene.
However, almost in the exact same instant, golden light abruptly flashed from the six golden hands, and a burst of invisible enormous force erupted from each of them.
The Rong being felt the air tighten around him, and he was completely immobilized, unable to move so much as a single finger. Even the circulation of magic power within his body had become extremely sluggish.
Meanwhile, the small black mountain expanded above his head before releasing a vast expanse of grey light, as well as countless silver runes.
An expression of shock and fury appeared on the Rong being's face, and he immediately made a decision, taking a deep breath before letting loose a long cry. He was disregarding his own safety to alert all of his other brethren in the cave.
However, the soundwaves were unable to escape beyond the grey light around him, and his heart immediately sank upon seeing this. Before he had a chance to do anything else, a golden thread suddenly erupted from each of the six golden palms, and the threads quickly bound him into a tight cocoon.
At the same time, the silver runes erupting from the Extreme Essencefused Mountain formed a shimmering silver light formation that descended from above.
A dull thump rang out, and the light formation vanished along with the Rong being, as if he had never even been here in the first place.
If someone were to unleash a powerful eye ability that allowed them to see into the Extreme Essencefused Mountain, they'd discover that the Rong being was lying unconscious in the belly of the mountain. Not only had his body been bound tightly by golden threads, a layer of silver runes had been plastered all over the Nascent Soul within his body, and it had also been forced into an unconscious state.
From the instant that Han Li revealed himself to the moment that the Rong being was drawn into the Extreme Essencefused Mountain, only the span of a few breaths ha passed,
Both the golden body and Extreme Essencefused Mountain had attacked in a completely silent manner and also had their spiritual pressure fluctuations minimized to its lowest possible point. As such, as long as there wasn't a third person in the cave, no one would be able to discover that a being at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage had just been captured alive.
Han Li heaved a sigh of relief upon successfully pacifying this Rong being. It was a good thing that he was the only Rong being here, and his attention was entirely focused on the golden seal text on the wall. Otherwise, it definitely wouldn't have been so easy for him to succeed.
If those two Rong beings outside had detected his presence, there was no way that he would've been able to capture them alive; he would've been forced to kill them.
As long as this Rong being wasn't killed, his companions most likely wouldn't be able to detect that anything was amiss.
This spatial ability to draw in beings was something that the Divine Essencefused Mountain had attained after being refined into the Extreme Essencefused Mountain.
If he were to completely refine all five extreme mountains, this ability would become unfathomably powerful, and the mountain would even be able to draw in entire seas.
Even though he currently only had one extreme mountain, it was still very powerful, and it would virtually be impossible for that Rong being to escape.
Han Li didn't hesitate any longer after this, stowing away the golden body and black mountain before immediately sweeping a sleeve through the air.
A black ring flew out from within before releasing a burst of azure light that swept downward.
Spiritual light flashed, and faint golden light emanated from the stone wall. However, it remained completely stationary and refused to be drawn into the storage bracelet.
Han Li heaved a faint sight, but he wasn't all that surprised to see this. If it were that easy to take this item, then it wouldn't have remained here for so long. He had only attempted to draw into the storage bracelet just in case it worked.
White light flashed, and a palm-sized jade slip sprang out of the black bracelet before hovering in front of the stone wall.
He made a hand seal before quickly pointing a finger at the jade slip, and it immediately released a burst of silver light that encompassed the entire stone wall.
In the next instant, the golden runes on the stone wall warped and twisted, and it was if they had sprung to life within the silver light. Immediately thereafter, balls of golden light flew out of the stone wall before vanishing into the jade slip.
Moments later, all of the golden balls of light had disappeared into the jade slip, and Han Li abruptly withdrew his hand seal.
Silver light immediately flashed from the jade slip, and it fell into his grasp as a ball of white light.
Han Li held the jade slip and injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which a faint smile appeared on his face.
The contents of the jade slip were indeed identical to the golden runes on the stone wall.
He carefully stowed away the storage bracelet and the jade slip before flipping a hand over to reveal a purple talisman, which he adhered to his own body again.
Purple light flashed, and Han Li's body entered an insubstantial state again.
Thus, Han Li continued to traverse through the secret cave and found three more stone walls with golden seal text inscribed upon them. Only one of those stone walls as being guarded by a Rong being, while the other two were left unguarded.
This made Han Li's job a lot easier, and he snuck up on the other Rong being before drawing him into the Extreme Essencefused Mountain as well. Thus, three more sections of the cultivation art were replicated into the same jade slip, and according to the annotations on the map that had been given to him by the elderly man, there was only one part of the cultivation art left.
However, Han Li became even more cautious here rather than allowing himself to grow complacent. He hadn't encountered many Rong beings yet, so they were most likely all gathered in the final cave.
According to the information that he'd eavesdropped earlier, only the restriction guarding the final part of the cultivation art was yet to be broken, so it was no wonder that everyone was gathered there.
With that in mind, Han Li found himself at a crossroads. This was an area that he had to pass through en route to that final cave.
Han Li looked around as he stroked his chin, then suddenly raised a hand, and over 100 formation flags surged out of his sleeve in a frenzy.
This was his most powerful set of formation tools, and it was capable of even trapping Spatial Tempering Stage being for a while.
On top of that, he also brought out one of his Nine Palaces Heavenly Talismans, and a massive palatial projection appeared for an instant before vanishing above the formation.
The materials required to refine this talisman were extremely rare, but he managed to purchase some in Cloud City, and was thus able to refine two more of those talismans.
Thus, even if the Rong beings outside were alerted to what was happening in the cave, they would be trapped by these two restrictions for a while before they could reach Han Li.
After doing all of this, Han Li nodded with a pleased look on his face before laying a hand on top of his own head, upon which golden light flashed, and the golden body appeared behind him.
He then opened his mouth to expel a ball of black Qi that vanished into the golden body.
"Go!" Han Li instructed without any hesitation.
A ferocious look appeared on one of the golden body's body's faces, and it suddenly vanished into thin air in a wraith-like manner.
Han Li then flicked his fingers to send a ball of silver flames and a pair of silver talismans flying out of his sleeves.
They transformed into a silver Fire Raven and two faint silver figures, respectively, then also vanished into the ground in front of him.
