When Han Li heard this, he faintly blushed.
“If it’s only to deliver a letter, Junior is willing to accept.” It was only natural for him to accept such a trivial task, considering the reward.
The young woman seemed rather happy and raised her hand without another word. The box was wrapped in a green light and smoothly flew over to Han Li.
Han Li received the black box and swept his spiritual sense over it. The spiritual Qi within the box was truly abundant as if it really contained a jade spirit well. Of course, given Han Li’s cautious nature, he wanted to personally examine what was inside the box.
With a flash of azure light from his hand, the black box opened by itself to reveal a dense, white mist of extremely pure spiritual Qi, flooding the stone room in an instant.
Han Li’s heart stirred and he examined the inside of the box with suspicion.
He only saw a gentle white light that emitted from a sparkling white jade stone only several inches long.
Han Li was left startled not by the stone itself, but by the thumb-sized cow inside the transparent stone that was continuously wagging its tail as if it were alive.
When the young woman saw Han Li’s shock, a peculiar expression flickered from her bright eyes. She casually smiled and asked, “What’s the matter? This jade spirit well had quickly nurtured a treasure incarnation. Common spirit well stones are incomparable to it. If you were to cultivate with this, you would achieve twice the results with half the effort.”
After taking another glance at the jade spirit well inside the box, he eventually closed it and calmly raised his head. “Right. With this item, Junior would only spend about a dozen years to reach false Nascent stage instead of several tens.”
At that moment, Han Li had finally realized that the Jadecloud Fox had been stained by the jade spirit well’s spiritual Qi. That was why it had possessed such a faint, pure spiritual Qi. It was quite possible that its transformation into a demon had something to do with the spirit well.
Han Li’s regained calm somewhat surprised the young woman. She couldn’t help but take another glance at him in her astonishment.
After drawing away a loose hair from her forehead, she casually said with an insipid voice, “Alright, since I’ve already given this item to you, I’ll be giving you the jade slip to deliver as well. There is also another jade box below on the platform I am sitting on. Tear off the talisman that seals it and hand it to me. There is a token in the box that I want you to deliver with it.”
“You want Junior to take it for you?” Han Li revealed suspicion and grew vigilant.
“Humph! Still afraid this old woman means you harm? If I could grab it myself, would I ask you to do it?” The young woman resentfully smiled and lifted up her long robes with her hand.
Han Li’s expression greatly changed upon seeing her legs. They were shriveled like firewood as they were crossed together. There wasn’t the slightest flesh apart from some dried up skin. It made for a rather fearsome appearance. But what surprised Han Li even more was the several silver sparkling chains that penetrated her legs that deeply bore into the stone platform..
Han Li pursed his lips and raised his head to look at the young woman. Although his face appeared completely bewildered, he didn’t ask anything further. He knew that the woman was certain to offer the explanation.
As a result, the woman’s face grew icy and she placed her robes back down. She dryly said, “I am in this stone mountain for the Lapis Stone. I had a room of it and then I used the two chains to restrict my legs and trap myself here.”
“You trapped yourself?” Han Li was entirely confused by this.
“That’s right. My cultivation art is the Underworldly Slaughter Arts. Although the cultivation art is incredibly fast and its might is extraordinary, it has a fatal flaw. Once it is completed, the cultivator will easily lose their human nature and become bloodthirsty. Back then, I had a fateful encounter with this technique and decided to cultivate it despite the advice of others; I had been extremely confident of my exceptionally powerful spiritual sense. After I successively cultivated this technique and entered Nascent Soul stage, I was no longer able to restrain my urge to kill and swept through the cultivation world at the time in a ma.s.sive storm, resulting in no small number of enemies. As a result, I finally tangled in a battle with several Nascent Soul cultivators, resulting in the loss of my arm.”
The young woman expressionlessly glanced at her vacant arm and shook her head.
“After receiving this injury, I thought long and hard. If I had no way to control myself then I would die sooner or later. As a result, I steeled my resolve and asked my dear friends to forge the Divine Heavenfire Chains and the room of Lapis Stone to imprison me. Due to fear I wouldn’t be able to tolerate the loneliness or would suddenly become regretful, I gave the key to the chains to my best friend. They made a promise that they would come visit me every so often to see whether or not I’ve gotten better so that they may release me.”
After that was said, the young woman’s expression grew sullen.
“But I didn’t expect that after coming only a few times, my good friend would suddenly disappear without a single word. I don’t know whether or not they became impatient or if something unexpected happened to them. As such, I’ve been imprisoned here until now. Because this room was refined from Lapis Stone, my spiritual sense is only able to reach out about a kilometer, despite having already reached the mid Nascent Soul stage. I wished to call for help, but I lacked any method to. These Divine Heavenfire Chains were refined through a very peculiar method, connecting them to my primal soul. Although my cultivation has greatly increased and I am able to break the chains, I will instantly die from doing so. Now that destiny has had us meet, it seems the Heavens have heard my plea. I no longer have to waste the rest of my life in this stone room.”
The black-clothed woman gave a general explanation of her past to dispel Han Li’s suspicions.
However, the story left Han Li dumbstruck. If she spoke truly, then her past must’ve truly been unfathomable.
After a moment of deliberation, he hesitantly asked, “Could it be that Senior wishes for Junior to deliver a letter to your best friend? With so many years having pa.s.sed, it wouldn’t be unlikely for your friend to have pa.s.sed on!”
The young woman sighed and bitterly smiled, “That’s right. Even if that’s the case, there is no need to be worried. I just ask that you to bring the key for the Divine Heavenfire Chains. We were on good terms. If anything had happened, they should’ve pa.s.sed it on to their descendants for safekeeping. It’ll be the same if you found their descendants instead.”
After a moment more of thought, Han Li found this to be reasonable and that there were no gaps in logic. As a result, he stepped forward without speaking any useless words and circled around the stone platform to find a hole.
Han Li carefully probed it with his spiritual sense and he raised his brows. He reached in to find a jade box.
The jade box had an antique style and was a faint yellow with odd flames engraved on it. The silhouette of a person could be seen standing within those flames as if they were roaring towards the Heavens.
There was also a flickering golden talisman on the jade box that faintly emitted an aura that caused Han Li to feel uneasy. He unconsciously frowned.
The black-clothed woman couldn’t help but grow excited and said, “That’s the box! Fellow Daoist, tear off the talisman and let me look at it.”
Han Li had already placed his hand on the jade case and was about to tear the talisman off. However, when he the young woman’s voice trembled in uncontainable excitement, Han Li felt an indescribable feeling of dread.
After a moment of hesitation, Han Li withdrew his hand from the box and raised his head instead. Han Li’s heart thumped upon seeing her.
Her eyes had changed into a dark green and her appearance had become warped. A fearsome, menacing guise had completely replaced her previously dignified air.
When the young woman saw Han Li raise his head, she was startled and regained her awareness. Her warped appearance and green eyes disappeared in an instant. She said in a relaxed tone, “Fellow Daoist, why are you looking at me? Why haven’t you torn off that talisman? Don’t forget, the jade spirit well is a treasure rarely seen in this world and I’ve already given it to you. Why are you still hesitating?”
Han Li glanced at the black-clothed young woman and looked down at the golden talisman tightly sealing the jade box. Without saying anything further, he narrowed his eyes and slowly walked towards her with the jade box in hand.
“Fellow Daoist, what are you going? Stop! Don’t come closer!” When the woman saw Han Li walking over with the golden talisman still on the jade box, her expression immediately changed and she began to shout with a panicked expression.