A day later, a streak of azure light flew out of the mountain range that the Xu Family was situated on, and Han Li appeared high up in the air.
He turned around to take one final glance at the mountain range down below before continuing in his flight.
After just a few flashes, the streak of light vanished into the distance.
After that, Han Li embarked on a journey across some of the cities in the Tian Yuan Region, a journey that would span the length of several years.
Some of the renowned sects and major families near the cities all discovered his presence, and they either sent their own high-grade cultivators to visit him, or kept an eye on him in a cautious manner until he departed.
Even though he was only traveling over a very small portion of the Tian Yuan Region, this journey allowed Han Li to develop a better grasp of the situation in the human race.
There were indeed far less Body Integration cultivators in the human race compared to the Jiao Chi Race, or even the Flying Spirit Race.
Aside from the three sovereigns and the Body Integration cultivators under them, there were very few Body Integration cultivators in the other sects or major families. As for completely vagrant Body Integration cultivators like himself, there were virtually none in the human race.
Han Li had heard that there were more cultivators like him in the demon race, but there still wasn't a significant margin between the numbers.
Even if the two races were to join forces, they would still only be roughly comparable in power to an average race on the Tian Yuan Continent.
This was why the human and demon races had established their territory in such a secluded part of the Tian Yuan Continent, where there were no powerful foreign races around. Otherwise, even with the super formation and the protection of Deep Heaven City, the ability of the two races to survive the Spirit Realm would be quite questionable.
After all, according to what he had learned, many foreign races that were more powerful than the human and demon races had been wiped out in a short time in the history of the Spirit Realm.
With his newfound powers as a Body Integration cultivator, he naturally didn't encounter any danger during his journey. On top of that, he slew a few evil cultivators by chance, and forged himself quite a reputation in the Tian Yuan region as a result.
Thus, any sects and major families were made aware of the fact that an unfathomably powerful Body Integration cultivator who bore the appearance of a young man had appeared in the human race.
After that, even some major powers from the Xuan Wu Region and Tian Ling Region sent people to try and recruit him, but they would naturally all face polite rejections from Han Li.
Thus, five years flew by in the blink of an eye…
On this day, there were three human cultivators in different attire halfway up a lush mountain on the border of the Xuan Wu Region and Tian Yuan Region. The three of them were seated in a stone pavilion and having a pleasant conversation.
One of them wore a set of white scholarly robes and had a pair of bright eyes complemented by sharp well-defined brows. He appeared to be in his thirties, and was quite a handsome and graceful man.
The person beside him wore a set of yellow Daoist robes with a worn-out black wooden sword on his back. This was a young Daoist priest who appeared to only be 17 to 18 years of age.
The final person to complete the trio was a young man with a set of ordinary facial features and slightly tanned complexion. He wore a set of long azure robes, and he was none other than Han Li.
Han Li currently had a hint of a smile on his face, and he listened patiently to the Daoist priest's epic tale.
"This is no exaggeration; the Mistsea Sect that the founding father of our Mistsea Daoist Temple belonged to back when he was in the lower realm was truly the number one sect in the world. It dominated the entire human world and crushed all demons that dared to oppose it. Patriarch Profound Spirit Disciple was also renowned as the number one cultivator in that world. I've inherited his teachings and also taken over the Mistsea Daoist Temple; if the two of you are willing to join our temple, then we'll truly be a force to be reckoned with. Once all three of us reach our full potential, we may not be able to make our Daoist temple the number one sect in the human race, but we'll definitely be able to at least dominate an entire region, haha!"
"Spirit Artifact Disciple, you've said this to me and Brother Han at least 18 times already. Even if we count all the kids in your Mistsea Temple, it only has two or three members in total, yet you have the audacity to invite me and Brother Han to join your temple? Your patriarch may have been a dominant force in the human world, but in our Spirit Realm, he was only an ordinary Deity Transformation cultivator. Otherwise, how could your temple have fallen so far into obscurity?" the white-robed man chuckled, and a green paper fan suddenly appeared in his hand. He opened the fan in a fluid graceful manner and gently fanned himself with it as he shook his head with an amused smile.
"Ptui! You don't know anything, Young Master Hai! It's not that the cultivation arts of our Mistsea Daoist Temple are too weak; the problem is that the Boundless Mistsea cultivation art my patriarch left behind has extremely special requirements for those who wish to use it. Back when my patriarch ascended to the Spirit Realm, he was extremely unfortunate to have encountered an exceedingly rare spatial storm. He managed to escape from the spatial storm in the end, but he suffered severe injuries during the ordeal, and he perished not long after founding the Mistsea Daoist Temple. Otherwise, our temple definitely wouldn't still be restricted to such an obscure location…" the young Daoist priest argued vehemently.
"I think your patriarch had a lot of foresight. With the current state of your Mistsea Daoist Temple, if you had taken over a spirit mountain or spirit vein, the temple would've most likely been destroyed already, isn't that right, Brother Han?" Young Master Hai gently closed his fan as he turned to Han Li in an amused manner.
"Your words do hold some truth, Brother Hai, but at the same time, Fellow Daoist Artifact Spirit Disciple's cultivation art is quite profound, so it most likely will have some special requirements for those who wish to cultivate it," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Haha, you see? Even Brother Han is giving me his endorsement; that means that our Mistsea Daoist Temple is different from all of those other powers! How about it? If you're willing to join our temple, I can pass the Boundless Mistsea cultivation art onto the two of you right away," the young Daoist priest tempted as his eyes narrowed into thin lines.
Young Master Hai immediately rolled his eyes in a disdainful manner in response. "I'm cultivating the most orthodox body refinement technique, and I have exceptional aptitude in body refinement; I've already reached the third layer of the Vajra Arts. You may be the so-called temple master of your Daoist temple, but you've only recently progressed to the Foundation Establishment Stage; you might not even be able to beat me in battle, what are you going to be able to teach me? If I'm going to join a sect, then I'm going to join a proper sect with a good reputation. Also, you were slightly ambiguous in your wording there, Brother Han. What do you mean by 'my words hold some truth'? What I said is entirely true; Senior Profound Spirit Disciple must've built the Mistsea Daoist Temple in that secluded location so that it wouldn't be ransacked by others." Young Master Hai said in a smug manner.
Han Li's lips twitched slightly upon hearing this, and he could only offer a wry smile in response. These two really were a pair of chatterboxes.
He had acquainted himself with these two around a month ago in a nearby city. At the time, they were being hunted by several Foundation Establishment cultivators from a small local sect that they had offended.
This was an extremely common occurrence, and Han Li had no intention of stepping in as he flew by at the time.
However, after making a cursory inspection of the two of them with his spiritual sense, he discovered that one of them possessed an exceptional spiritual root, but had cultivated a mortal body refinement technique, and had reached the third layer of the Vajra Arts at a very young age. As for the other person, his spiritual root was seemingly very mediocre, but the cultivation art he was using was quite special and allowed him to take on several cultivators of the same cultivation base as him at once.
Thus, the two of them were just barely able to hold their own against five Foundation Establishment Stage assailants.
Han Li was rather intrigued by this, and he also concealed his aura to the Foundation Establishment Stage before suddenly stepping in.
With his powers, even after restricting himself to Foundation Establishment Stage magic power, he was still able to easily intimidate the Foundation Establishment cultivators into retreat.
The two of them were naturally extremely grateful to Han Li for saving them, and after just a brief chat, they proposed to swear brotherhood vows together.
Han Li didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at the time, and he hurriedly made up an excuse to turn down the proposal. However, the two of them continued to raise questions, and after learning that he was traveling to the Xuan Wu Region to attend the Myriad Treasure Convention, they were immediately elated and insisted on accompanying him.
It turned out that they were planning to attend the convention as well, and Han Li was quite speechless to hear this.
The Myriad Treasure Convention was an extremely grand event that even the three sovereigns and seven monarchs could attend, yet these two were planning to attend as well. Ignorance truly was bliss.
Even though there were some cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage or below who attended the Myriad Treasure Convention, most of them were servants or disciples. The small number of Foundation Establishment cultivators who attended the convention alone were generally ones who resided near the convention venue and only attended to broaden their horizons.
However, this Young Master Hai and this Daoist priest had several jars of spirit tea and a few unidentifiable pieces of ore, respectively, and they were planning to attend the convention with these "wares". Han Li was truly speechless.
However, it had to be said that the spirit tea was of quite a good quality, and could just barely be referred to as high-grade tea. As for those pieces of ore, they clearly weren't anything of value, but even Han Li was unable to identify them.
Han Li was truly intrigued by this comedy duo, and there was still some time before the commencement of the Myriad Treasure Convention anyway, so he wasn't in a hurry. As such, he agreed to travel with the two of them.
Thus, he summoned a high-grade flying carriage treasure, and the three of them traveled toward the Xuan Wu Region on the carriage.
What rendered Han Li even more speechless was that before he had a chance to enquire about the origins of these two, they revealed everything that he wanted to know, and more, through their constant bickering. It turned out that this Young Master Hai hailed from a very renowned body refinement family in a mortal city. Even though he possessed an exceptional spiritual root, he was deemed by a mediocre doctor at birth to possess no spiritual root at all. Thus, he had always been nurtured as a body refinement cultivator.
However, after displaying his astonishing aptitude in body refinement, he somehow discovered by chance that he possessed a spiritual root, and the revelation had been like a lightning strike to the head for him.
Thus, this Young Master Hai immediately deemed himself to be different from everyone else and turned his back on the way of body refinement to become a true cultivator. However, he lived in a mortal city where there were no real cultivation sects, and he was a little arrogant, so the average small cultivation sect couldn't catch his eye.
Hence, after some "careful consideration", he ran away from home in secret to search for a major cultivation sect elsewhere.
Along the way, he encountered this Daoist priest of the Mistsea Daoist Temple who was planning to attend the Myriad Treasure Convention, and the comical pair immediately hit it off.
Thus, they quickly became sworn brothers and decided to travel to the Myriad Treasure Convention together.
In the words of Artifact Spirit Disciple, the Myriad Treasure Convention was a grand occasion where Deity Transformation cultivators were as common as blades of grass, and Nascent Soul cultivators were worth less than excrement. As such, he could easily convince any cultivator there to take him as their disciple, and that would still be a much better option than to join some cultivation sect.
