The island's only small town sat at its eastern end, not far from the harbor. On the western side of the island ran a small mountain range stretching over twenty li, bearing two modest peaks—one rising about two or three hundred zhang high, the other barely over a hundred zhang.
Han Li spotted the peaks from a distance while still in the air, but he held back the flicker of excitement in his heart and descended first to the center of the town.
The arrival of Han Li and Qu Hun caused quite a stir. An elderly man who called himself the town chief hurried over to meet Han Li.
After Han Li handed the jade slip bearing the golden symbol over to the old man for inspection, the town chief immediately declared that every person in the town would follow the Immortal Master's commands without question.
Of course, Han Li had no intention of asking mortals for any help. He merely asked about the general situation of the island, and what share of the spirit stone consumption for the defensive formation the townspeople could bear. That was what he truly cared about.
When he heard a figure so small it was practically negligible, Han Li felt somewhat depressed.
Didn't that mean he'd have to cover all the spirit stone costs himself?
That middle-aged cultivator had talked about collecting spirit stones from the residents to offset some of the losses. It turned out to be nothing but pretty words—there was practically no difference whether they paid or not.
Han Li silently cursed the middle-aged cultivator under his breath, then offered the old man a few words of reassurance.
After that, he went to the formation's core in the center of the town to take a look.
Han Li made a rough estimate of the spirit stone consumption required by the formation, compared it with what the old man had told him, and immediately handed over a year's worth of spirit stones.
He told the old man that from now on, he could come to the cave dwelling each year to collect the spirit stones needed for the following year.
Then, ignoring the old man's repeated thanks, Han Li and Qu Hun flew toward the western end of the island.
The moment they entered the mountain range that the island's residents called "Xiao Huan Shan," Han Li felt a faint spiritual energy wash over him, which lifted his spirits slightly.
A moment later, Han Li stood on the Divine Wind Boat, circling the two peaks—one tall, one short—several times.
It was obvious that the slightly taller peak had denser spiritual energy. However, the shorter, stouter peak seemed more suitable for a cave dwelling, and it already bore an old site left by a previous cultivator, nearly intact and almost ready to use directly.
Han Li pondered for a moment aboard the Divine Wind Boat, then a sharp gleam flickered in his eyes as he made his decision.
He flew first into the old cave dwelling on the shorter, stouter peak, found a very hidden spot deep within the cavern, and released his magical tools to bombard the ground.
Half a day later, a tunnel was already taking shape. This passage, roughly two or three zhang in diameter, headed straight for the base of the peak.
But once the tunnel had descended more than ten zhang below the mountain's base, Han Li suddenly changed direction, and the tunnel began heading toward the other peak just two or three li away.
Although Han Li's magical tools were extremely sharp and Qu Hun helped alongside him, this massive undertaking still took two full days before the two peaks were successfully connected through.
Following the layout of his old cave dwelling in the Tianan region, Han Li then carved out a brand-new cave dwelling inside the taller peak.
Everything in this dwelling was identical to the one in the Tai Yue Mountains.
The only difference was that this time he didn't create an exit. Apart from the connecting tunnel, it was entirely sealed off.
This was where Han Li would truly cultivate and grow spirit herbs.
With one real and one decoy cave dwelling, things were much safer.
After completing the cave dwelling, Han Li set up the "Five Elements Reversal Formation"—the first one he had acquired—near the exit of the shorter peak.
But after flying back and forth between the two peaks and hovering in the air for a while, he still felt uneasy.
He simply pulled out two more formidable formations from the sets of formation tools that Xin Ruyin had gifted him: the "Heavenly Wind Fierce Formation" and the "Phantom Shape Heavenly Net Formation," along with their respective formation flags and discs.
Both were wide-area formations, and once deployed, they completely enveloped the two peaks.
Though they weren't as miraculous as the Five Elements Reversal Formation, they would give any Foundation Establishment cultivator a serious headache.
With this setup, short of a direct assault by a Core Formation cultivator, Han Li's cave dwelling was essentially secure.
Above the outer boundary of the grand formations, Han Li gazed at the peaks obscured by milky-white mist and let out a soft laugh. Then he slowly flew into the mist and vanished.
Once inside his true cave dwelling, Han Li didn't sit back and relax. He kept busy, never stopping.