บท 59: Borrowing Stars Stage
บรรณาธิการ: Atlas Studios
A few days later, at Outcloud Mountain, in a certain cavern abode's garden.
A young, pretty lady with skin as fair as snow and wearing a palace-outfit was following half a step behind a beautiful woman who was tall and wearing a white outfit. The both of them walked slowly.
They were the only ones there. They were Yu Menghan and Gu Yunyue.
"Recalling what you'd said back then, this Elder Han's identity is really a mystery. Back then on our initial trip together, I observed him as thoroughly as I could and made the most impossible guess already. Yet, I didn't think I was still underestimating him so greatly," Gu Yunyue said as she chuckled bitterly.
"I wonder when I would be able to reach a level close to his," Yu Menghan said with a sigh, a hint of yearning appearing in her eyes.
"The life of a human is small while the life of an Immortal is boundless. Asking for Immortality with a limited life is already going against fate. Not only do we have to make use of our natural endowments, it depends a lot on random luck and fate as well. That is also why many people are not able to even reach the Foundation Establishment stage in the span of their normal lifetimes, not to mention the golden core condensation stage. My cultivation base is already more than five hundred years old, while I have been in the mid-stage Nascent Soul level for a good hundred years. As a result, I still have some hope of advancing to the Deity Transformation level. However, my Spatial Tempering prospects, which is one level higher, are far too bleak. As for Great Ascension, that is only one step away from immortality, I naturally don't have to even think about it," Gu Yunyue said as she stopped to look up at the sky, a little dazedly.
Hearing this, Yu Menghan felt a little agitated as well, her eyes dimming subconsciously.
The beautiful woman looked away, towards the young lady as she said with a shake of her head.
"I am limited by my natural endowments. If nothing extraordinary happens, this will more or less be what I have achieved. On the other hand, Menghan, you have a natural endowment of having a spiritual body, while your understanding is high as well. After entering our Sect for two short years, you've already successfully achieved your Foundation Establishment. If there are no accidents, your achievements in the future will definitely be above mine. There is still a chance for you to reach the levels above Spatial Tempering."
"It's mainly due to Master's patient teachings and your gifts of various precious spirit pills without selfishness. Menghan is truly grateful," Yu Menghan said emotionally.
"Thanks to Elder Han, you don't have to worry about the problem of lacking spirit pills for a very long time from today onwards." Gu Yunyue continued as she waved her hand.
Hearing this, Yu Menghan's pretty eyes instantly lit up.
"Now that we're talking about it, I have only visited Elder Han once in the past two years. However, now that his cavern has been listed as one of the restricted areas of the Sect, I'm afraid it will basically be impossible to even visit him at all." Gu Yunyue sighed after saying so, a slight wisp of regret appearing on her face.
Not too long later, the Cold Fire Sect's Outcloud Mountain suddenly accepted an unaffiliated cultivator as their outer sect disciple. The person's natural endowment was normal. He was not young anymore and he was only at the Core Formation level, as such, he would not usually meet the acceptance conditions. This event caused a rather strong commotion amongst the disciples.
It was only later that people found out that this person was named Bai Shi and was actually friends with that Elder Han. This issue finally calmed down, yet people, including other Elders whose cultivation base was way above his, kept coming to make advances on him.
Of course, this was all in the future.
Another month passed by very quickly.
At the back of Heaven Respect Peak, the main mountain peak of Primordial Realm Temple, there was an oval shaped lake that looked as green as jade. The spiritual energy in the lake was extremely dense and a thick white layer of fog emitted from it. On the surface of the water, golden and sparkling fat carp jumped out from time to time.
At the same time, at the lava stones and grass patches by the lake, there were more than a dozen energetic red-crowned cranes playing around with each other. They were eating the messily-grown spirit herbs and looked up to chirp happily from time to time.
Whoosh!
A purple light suddenly shone from the skies, before landing by the lake.
When the glow faded, a tall man wearing a golden crown and a purplish-golden Dao robe appeared. He looked to be in his forties, with three locks of black long mustache growing on his face, making him look a little like an immortal.
The moment he landed, he checked out the flock of cranes beside him for a moment before he looked towards the other side of the lake. There was a greenish-black wooden wall over there, covered with algae.
Suddenly, he turned his hands in his sleeves. With a loud ring, a voice transmission talisman shot out of his sleeves and flew into that stone wall and vanished.
After a moment, a pale golden light glowed around the stone wall and a hole about the size of a man's height appeared in the center.
The purple-robed cultivator did not hesitate. His figure flashed, as he flew right into the cave.
Behind the stone walls, there was a very spacious room.
Right in the center of the room was a three-leveled high stage. Every level was carved with intricate emblems, with various yellow lamps of different and weird shapes laid all over on top and together, they formed a weird, large array formation. Alarming amounts of magic ripples exuded from the center.
In the center of the highest level, there was a fat man sitting cross-legged on a cattail cushion. He was wearing a golden yellow loose robe, with his chest exposed. From afar, he looked like a small mountain of muscle.
"Great-grand Elder, Cold Fire Sect sent a message today, saying that Elder Han wants to borrow our Sect's Multiple Star Stage for cultivation. They also promised that they will repay this request grandly. Shall we…" the purple-robed cultivator said politely as he bowed towards the "mountain of muscle".
The golden-robed man did not reply immediately. The fat on his face trembled as he spoke slowly, "Any updates on the investigations I asked you to conduct about the origins of this person?"
The voice was unusually bright and loud, as it rang and echoed in the stone room.
"I only know that this person suddenly appeared at Feng Nation two years ago. After a short while, he entered the Cold Fire Sect and became a guest Elder. However, he was very quiet in conducting his matters in that period and nothing weird happened. That is why our spy in Cold Fire Sect only found out about this person's existence after what happened to Sky Ghost Sect." The purple-robed cultivator replied with a low hum.
"Never mind. If I was in that sly fox, Sima Jingming's position, I would definitely lock-down all information on this person as well. How is Sky Ghost Sect doing recently?" The golden-robed man asked once more.
The purple-robed cultivator thought for a moment before he said, "After what happened to the entire Sky Ghost Sect, the sect's disciples have all become extremely quiet and low-key. They have not shown any unhappiness nor intend to take revenge, at least on the surface."
"Who are they trying to fool? Do they think after all these years I would still be oblivious to the tempers of those two old fools? They are people who will definitely take revenge and will never swallow something like this just like that. Continue to observe them." The golden-robed man snorted out loud, clearly expressing his disbelief.
"Then, about borrowing the Multiple Stars Stage…" The purple-robed cultivator asked hesitantly.
After some silence, the golden-robed man said, "Since he has the capabilities of a Great Ascension, we naturally cannot get on his bad side, so let's agree to it first."
The purple-robed cultivator furrowed his eyebrows tightly, before he said with some hesitation.
"To tell Grand Elder the truth, several Great-grand Elders in the Sect are a little worried about this. They are deeply afraid that this person's capabilities will go up another level after entering the Multiple Stars Stage and cultivating there. When that time comes, our Primordial Realm Temple will be suppressed by the Cold Fire Sect as well. On top of that, opening the Multiple Stars Stage requires a significant amount of wash star stones. We are already stingy when it comes to using them to cultivate our Sect's top disciples. If we're wasting it on an outsider, it really is a pity…"
"Stop joking! How is it that easy to increase his capabilities even more when he is already at Great Ascension level? However, since he wants to use it, we naturally won't bear the costs of the required materials. Their Cold Fire Sect shall pay for it all in double," the golden-robed man said casually as he smiled faintly.
"Yes!" The purple-robed cultivator replied politely.
Two months later, at Primordial Realm Temple.
Amongst green mountains with countless valleys, clouds floated amongst them slowly as spirit cranes and birds flew past from time to time.
Right in the middle of the group of valleys, there was a towering giant peak that broke through the clouds, far surpassing the other peaks around it.
On top of the peak, giant stones were stacked on each other and right in the middle of the peak, there was a nine-leveled pavilion shaped like a round tower. It was completely crystal-white, looking like it had been carved from a single piece of beautiful jade.
All around the tall tower, there were brown-robed elders sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, one in each of the four sides.
It was nearly the evening and the sunset glows were shining down from an angle, causing the entire peak to glow with a soft orange-red light. It reflected on the tall white jade tower, which in turn reflected a unique glow that made people drunk from seeing it.
At this moment, in the air far away, two rays of light raced each other before landing below the tall white jade tower. The glow slowly faded and it revealed two figures, one fat and one thin.
The brown-robed elders who were originally sitting on all four sides of the tall tower stood up and moved towards the two visitors. They bowed politely towards that golden-robed man who was as fat as a mountain and said in unison.
"Greetings, Great-grand Elder."
With that said, their eyes moved slightly to check out that unknown young man beside the golden-robed man.
This person was tall and looked plain. Naturally, he was Han Li who had come to borrow and use the Multiple Stars Stage.
The golden-robed man waved his fan-like big hands, remaining silent.
The four instantly understood and silently retreated back to their original positions.
"Daoist Han, they are the guardians of this Multiple Stars Stage. Although there is only one Integration level cultivator while the other three are Spatial Tempering level, they have worked together for many years and are able to read each other's thoughts. With them protecting Daoist, everything will be fine." The golden-robed man said with a small smile, his voice bright and loud.
Han Li naturally did not want anyone from Primordial Realm Temple to protect him, but he knew that this was something he could not object to. He said with an unwavering smile, "Then, I'll have to thank Daoist He Shan."
"The night is beginning, so I won't delay Daoist Han from your cultivation any further. If you have other requests, feel free to voice them to those people," the golden-robed man said as he looked up to take a look at the sky.
With that said, he cupped his hands together towards Han Li, before he morphed into a ray of light and left. He disappeared almost instantly.
After watching the other leave, Han Li glanced around him and moved in front of the stairs of the Multiple Stars Stage. However, he was not in a hurry to go up.
The four people around the tall tower had already started to make hand seals quickly and each started to chant under their breaths as well.
With that, rings and rings of hidden runes glowed under him and a golden light that covered the entire Multiple Stars Stage appeared out of nowhere.
At the same time, a narrow entrance the height of a person appeared in front of Han Li.
The blue glow in his eyes flashed as he found out that although the spiritual energy ripple from the glow in front of him was not weak, it was only a protective spell. With that, he stretched his leg forward and he walked in.
The moment Han Li entered, that glowing door instantly closed, blending into the air as if it never existed.
The moment he stepped on the stairs, weird and unusual spiritual energy ripples surged towards him from all directions.
Han Li felt a little strange and alarmed, his eyes looking downwards.
All he saw was that there were small potholes all over the stone stairs under his feet and on the ground all around him. If he did not take a closer look, he would not have noticed them.
He took a longer glance at it with his spiritual vision for a moment and discovered that there were very weak silver lights sparkling from the bottom of those potholes. They were actually the traces left from being showered with the power of the stars over the many years of use.
The surface of the Multiple Stars Stage was also carved with emblems made of countless rings and lines that linked together. Some simple ones were linked with three or five lines, while some were extremely complex and linked together with more than ten lines. Some even linked to form a tic-tac-toe shape.
As Han Li walked up and saw the various carved emblems, he slowly understood that these were designed to complement the stars in the skies.
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