Once Han Li confirmed that the massive silver dragon had truly departed from the surrounding void, his expression relaxed slightly. However, after mulling over the words the dragon had spoken before leaving, his face once again took on an unsettled, shifting look.
After a while, the small green figure's body blurred, transforming into a faint streak of green light that shot downward.
Shortly after, spatial fluctuations rippled within the sealed chamber of his cave dwelling deep in the mountain, and the small green figure materialized in a ghostly flicker.
Below, the green spirit body and Han Li's physical body, both seated cross-legged, swayed at the shoulders and rose to their feet upon seeing this.
At the same time, Han Li's physical body closed both eyes, and the crown of his skull opened of its own accord in a wash of golden light.
The small green figure immediately transformed into a green rainbow and dove downward. In a flash it vanished, plunging directly into the skull of the physical body and disappearing without a trace.
In the span of a single breath, Han Li's physical body blazed with alternating purple-gold radiance while silver spirit patterns appeared one after another across the surface of his skin.
Han Li's eyelids twitched faintly, and his eyes opened once more.
Without a word, the spirit body beside him took a long stride forward.
A flash of azure-green luminescence and it dissolved into an afterimage that sank into Han Li's body.
Han Li stood in place without moving, only a faint gleam flickering through his eyes.
He did not know how much time passed before his neck finally swayed gently a couple of times, and he murmured a few words to himself: "The first time undergoing the Tempering of the Gale Winds, my Nascent Soul has indeed become more stable than before. It seems this Divine Traversal of Ten Thousand Li can be used not only as a method to defeat enemies, but also directly applied to cultivation."
The moment his self-talk ended, Han Li calmly sat cross-legged on the ground once more, his expression unchanged.
With a turn of his palm!
That pale silver scale appeared once again.
Han Li held the scale aloft, slowly running his finger across its surface for a long moment, a contemplative look surfacing on his face.
The Island of True Dragons that Fan Paozi had mentioned — he had in fact heard about it before in certain ancient texts.
The legendary island was said to be extraordinary in that it did not exist within any true realm, but rather within a unique spatial domain situated between several realms. All manner of heaven and earth spirit creatures inhabited the island, most of them flood dragon types. True Spirit existences centered around genuine dragons numbered more than ten, and so the island had been named the Island of True Dragons. It held considerable renown among the powerful beings of the various realms.
However, as for the so-called "Assembly of the Guangling Dao Fruit," this was genuinely the first time he had ever heard of it.
It seemed he would need to make inquiries of Mo Jianli and the others to see whether they knew any details, before he could decide whether it was worth traveling to the Island of True Dragons to attend this gathering.
Having settled on a course of action, Han Li exhaled lightly. The silver spirit patterns across his skin began to flow and swirl, instantly condensing into several dozen miniature pattern formations on his flesh.
Then billowing waves of milky-white mist surged forth from the silver formations, engulfing Han Li's body in an instant.
Moments later, the entire chamber was filled with the same milky-white vapor, and within it, crackling sounds popped and resoned without cease, like beans frying in a pan.
Han Li had settled back into secluded cultivation within the chamber.
Two months later, the chamber door groaned open once more, and Han Li walked out with a calm expression.
Half a day later, a sudden flash of spiritual light burst from the mountaintop where Han Li's cave dwelling stood. Two blinding streaks of escape light shot out from the mountainside, spiraled once, and then transformed into twin rainbows that tore through the sky and vanished.
Yet another half hour later, more than a dozen streaks of escape light in various colors burst from the mountain as well, forming into an orderly formation before hurtling off in another direction.
At the same time, within the main hall of the cave dwelling, the Dao Protector Crab, Silver Moon, and Zhu Guo'er were already standing before Han Li.
"Let's go. We're heading back to Heavenly Abyss City. I still have some disciples and descendants there. It's been so many years since I last saw them — I ought to check on how they're doing," Han Li said calmly.
Naturally, none of the others objected.
Han Li gave a broad sweep of his sleeve.
A surge of golden light flew from within the sleeve, sweeping up everyone nearby in a flash. Then, in a momentary daze, all of them vanished from the hall without a trace.
The next instant, spatial fluctuations rippled above the mountaintop, and Han Li and his party materialized in silence.
Without another word, Han Li raised a hand and shot out a ball of azure light. It flickered once and expanded into a green jade boat more than ten zhang long.