The large man didn’t dare to show his anger when he heard this, but his heart still grew sullen. Instead, he forced a smile and said, “Senior, our Li Clan has settled on the Snow Chain Mountains with Senior Long’s permission. You may take the mountains if you first inform him.”
“Do you think that ‘Senior Long’ can pressure me?” Han Li rolled his eyes and said with a hostile tone, “You have half a day to leave. If anyone finds this unacceptable, have them come find them.”
The large man’s expression fell and he thought to say something else when Han Li interrupted him with a wave of his sleeve, summoning an azure gust from it.
In the large man’s alarm, he covered his body in protective light before feeling a huge spiritual pressure weighing down on him.
The two old men using magic tools to fly were unable to raise their defenses and were sent tumbling away by the gale.
Terrified, the two tried but couldn’t raise their defenses, as if their magic power had been sealed. In that moment, they were overwhelmed with fear.
Fortunately, the wind had dissipated of its own accord rapidly, and the old men were able to stabilize themselves once again. When they turned to look up, they discovered that Han Li had already disappeared.
With a palpitating heart, one of the old men asked the grey-robed man, “Venerable Ancestor, wh-when did he...”
With an unsightly expression, he let out a deep sigh and said, “Command everyone to immediately gather their things. We have four hours to leave the mountain!”
The black-robed old man cried out, “What!? Are we truly giving up on the great deal of effort our Li Clan spent to defeat the Seven Snowchain Brothers for these mountains. We haven’t even lived here for even a hundred years. With how tyrannical this person is, will Senior Long sit still?”
Although the other old man didn’t speak, his expressions showed he agreed with him. Given how difficult it was to establish themselves there, he was also unwilling to abandon their home.
“Have you lost your minds,” the grey-robed man snorted with a gloomy expression, “You dare to pull something against someone with that level of cultivation? His spiritual pressure was even greater than Senior Long’s. I suspect he is a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. With such might, Senior Long will turn a blind eye to this, no matter what relations.h.i.+p we have with him. And tyrannical as that senior may be, he did give us time to leave. If he slaughtered us without warning, do you think anybody would try and avenge us? Don’t forget that the cultivation world is where might makes right. The reason why we were able to occupy the mountain in the first place was because we were ever so slightly stronger than the Seven Snowchain Brothers, and were recognized by other factions as a result. So long as the core disciples of our Li Clan exist, we only need to fight for another spirit mountain at worse. It is a far better alternative than to meet our end by a Nascent Soul cultivator!”
The old men nodded with newfound realization.
Soon after, the three disappeared towards the mountain in a blur.
After the time it took to finish a meal, the surrounding area began to stir.
One after another, cultivators shuffled back and forth between buildings and cave residences. While they wore panicked expressions, their movements appeared orderly and efficient.
A few hours later, two squads of cultivators took off and withdrew from the mountain in a grand display. Of the three hundred there, a vast majority of them were at Qi Condensation stage with only around twenty people boarded on flying magic tools.
But in any case, they weren’t slow and they soon departed.
This vast movement naturally caught the attention of their neighboring territories, and they send men to inquire what was happening.
The Li Clan simply told them the truth, much to the shock of these cultivators. The Snow Chain Mountains had been seized by a Nascent Soul cultivator. These scouts returned to their respective factions in order to come up with countermeasures.
A senior of profound cultivation had suddenly appeared in this land. Such an affair could bring both happiness and despair, but from how he occupied the Snowchain Mountains, it was most likely the latter in this case.
Shaken by the news, the nearby cultivator factions prepared themselves to flee at any moment.
At that moment, Han Li was standing on top of the huge rock in the Snowchain Mountains. He had spread out his spiritual sense and was examining the mountains for any hidden cultivators.
Once he opened his eyes once more and he wore a satisfied expression. With a flip of his hand, he summoned a set of formation flags and plates.
Afterwards, his body blurred and he quickly laid a circle around the mountain before returning to his original position. All the formation tools in his hand were now gone.
A dense white mist suddenly emerged from nowhere and soon covered the entire mountain.
Han Li nodded, seeing that there were no problems with the formation.
This countermeasure was something he had acquired from Old Devil Qian’s storage pouch. While it wouldn’t be effective against Nascent Soul cultivators, it was still a higher grade formation and would be effective against keeping out Core Formation cultivators.
With that taken care off, he took a spirit beast pouch from his storage pouch and tossed it into the air. He formed hand incantations and then pointed them at the air.
The storage pouch opened and an icy Qi immediately spouted out to reveal a dozen crystalline snow-white Six-winged Frost Centipedes.
As soon as the centipedes flew out, they flew circles above him and chirped in a cheerful manner.
It appeared the glacial Qi of the nearby land excited them. With a mental command, he released the dozen centipedes, allowing them to quickly roam out of sight in the mist.
With the illusion formation and the dozen frost centipedes concealed within, even an early Nascent Soul cultivator could be repelled.
Having placed down these safety measures, he immediately used his spirit eyes to find the point on the mountains with the densest aura. Afterwards, he used an earth movement technique to burrow deep within and cleaved enough room for his Hidden Fortune Mansion to be released.
Having finally made the proper arrangements for the rest of his insects, he immediately entered his hidden room and sat down cross-legged, slow closed his eyes, and began meditating.
Time slowly pa.s.sed him by.
When Han Li opened his eyes once more, his face and heart were completely tranquil.
He slapped his storage pouch and took out a red gourd into his hand. He shook out a thumb-sized glistening emerald medicine pill with an overwhelming fragrance. This is the initial objective of his journey, the Nascent cultivating Pill.
According to what the Nine Serenities Sect’s Old Man Fu said, refinement of the pill will take half a year. He had no reason to put it off any further. Taking the pill will produce great benefits towards not only his future cultivation but his strength as well.
After he swallowed it, he immediately felt a soft chill spread throughout his body, quickly turning into threads of scorching heat.
He immediately put away the bottle and closed his eyes. Then with his hands in an incantation gesture, he sank into deep into meditation once more.
If one were to peer inside his body, they would discover that his two-inch-tall Nascent Soul had its eyes opened. It spat out threads of azure flame that were slowly refining the emerald medicine pill.
A deafening silence filled the air.
As day after day pa.s.sed, half a year had unknowingly crossed. Peace and serenity were maintained in the Snow Chain Mountains, but there were several waves of people that had come to visit.
Among them were high-grade cultivators from nearby factions or Core Formation-stage vagrants from other areas that came to pay their respects. There was even a silver-robed old man who had come to pay Han Li a visit; the sole early Nascent Soul cultivator in the area.
But no matter who came, they were met with the endless white mist. After loudly shouting into it, they had no choice but to return.
The silver-robed old man on the other hand wasn’t satisfied with being ignored. He had charged into the white mist, but after a short moment, he was forced back with a series of sharp insect cries.
He came out with one arm sealed in a block of ice.
Although it wouldn’t cause any permanent injury, the silver-robed old man didn’t dare to re-enter the mist. He simply sighed in resignation and flew off. The power of the Six-winged Frost Centipedes clearly ill.u.s.trated Han Li’s abilities were far above his own. It would be foolish for him to provoke this superior cultivator any further.
Not long after, cultivator factions from tens of thousands of kilometers away knew that the Snowchain Mountains were occupied by a senior of great power. Even the sovereign of the region, Senior Long, didn’t dare to provoke him, much to the surprise of everyone.
Thus, a five hundred kilometer radius of the Snowchain Mountains had turned into a restricted area. All cultivators that pa.s.sed by took a detour around, fearing they would provoke the expert that laid within.
Fortunately, nearly a year pa.s.sed with only continued silence from the Snowchain Mountains. The expert hadn’t involved himself in any outside fears, calming the fears of the other nearby factions.
One day, Han Li finished refining the Nascent Cultivating Pill and opened his eyes.
His face bloomed with light in a display of success.