With a soft "pop," the round bead flashed brightly and transformed into a five-colored cloud of mist roughly ten feet in diameter, shooting downward with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it burrowed into the stone mountain and vanished without a trace. At the same time, the surrounding weather phenomena — wind, rain, thunder, and lightning — disappeared in an instant, and everything returned to normal.
The gathered cultivators stared at one another, completely at a loss for what to do.
Just then, a sound like a dragon's roar rose from within the stone mountain, piercing straight up to the ninth heaven. The sky and earth shifted colors in response, and a humanoid silhouette of light roughly a hundred zhang tall materialized above the stone mountain.
The figure shimmered with four-colored spiritual light, its hands and feet monstrously large. Because the spiritual radiance across its face was far too brilliant, not a single person could make out the giant's features — they only felt that this apparition was supremely majestic, so imposing that none dared look up at it. What terrified these cultivators even more was that the figure inclined its head ever so slightly, and two columns of cold, piercing light swept across the crowd. Wherever the light passed, everyone held their breath involuntarily.
"Thud, thud, thud" — one after another, several cultivators found their entire bodies growing heavy, as though Mount Tai itself were pressing down on them. They dropped to one knee, unable to rise even slightly.
A few cultivators with deeper cultivation managed to keep their footing, but their knees trembled visibly, veins bulged on their foreheads, and they looked as though they were straining to the absolute limit.
Just as these cultivators were gripped by terror and silently cursing their luck, the enormous silhouette seemed to chuckle. Its body suddenly dissolved into a sky full of starlight and scattered into nothing.
The sight left everyone dumbfounded.
...
Inside a quiet chamber in the small stone mountain, Han Li sat cross-legged on the ground with both eyes closed. But atop his crown, a miniature infant no more than an inch tall was climbing and frolicking about on his hair bun.
The infant was pale and plump, enveloped in a faint blue-green glow, and its facial features were identical to Han Li's — except its face was brimming with excited delight, a stark contrast to Han Li's usual taciturn demeanor.
Below the infant, Han Li's true body had a healthy, rosy complexion and a serene expression, as though he were deep in sleep.
After a while, the infant seemed to grow tired of playing. It yawned, flashed with blue-green light, and slipped through the crown of his head back into Han Li's body.
Han Li's expression shifted. His eyelids fluttered, and at last he opened his eyes, revealing a pair of warm, luminous, clear-as-water pupils.
The newly awakened Han Li did not immediately stand. Instead, his face carried a complex expression — a mixture of something strange and unrestrained elation.
He suddenly raised one hand and turned it over and over before his eyes several times. Then he lifted his other hand and touched the top of his head, his face full of disbelief.
A full cup of tea's worth of time passed before the look of excitement gradually faded from Han Li's face, and he finally returned to his usual composure.
He surveyed the chamber, stretched lazily, and finally rose to his feet. With a flick of his finger, he sent a streak of blue-green light shooting at the stone door.
The chamber's entrance flashed once and rose silently into the air.
"Congratulations, Master, on successfully forming your Nascent Soul!"
Silver Moon had taken the form of a stunningly beautiful young woman and was standing guard outside the chamber. The moment she saw Han Li emerge, she immediately lowered her head and bowed respectfully. The title she used and the degree of deference in her tone were somewhat beyond what Han Li had expected.
"Master? It seems my friend Silver Moon has only now truly accepted me. But that's only natural — your cultivation was never below mine to begin with. If I had failed to condense a Nascent Soul, how could you ever genuinely submit to me?" Han Li rubbed his chin and spoke with casual indifference.
"What Master says is absolutely right. Now that Master has formed a Nascent Soul, you have naturally ascended to the very pinnacle of cultivators in this realm. Your lifespan now extends well over a thousand years. At Master's current age of barely two hundred, with a bit more fortune and opportunity, I believe that Master's reaching the Deity Transformation stage is by no means an unreasonable hope." Silver Moon's beautiful face was filled with earnest solemnity as she spoke.
"Talking about the Deity Transformation stage is far too distant for me right now. Countless Nascent Soul cultivators have been stuck at the early stage, unable to advance even a fraction. Don't set your expectations too high," Han Li said, shaking his head lightly with an unperturbed expression.
"I have quite a bit of confidence in Master," Silver Moon replied, her cherry lips curving into a radiant smile, her manner extraordinarily alluring.
Han Li heard this and let a look of mild skepticism cross his face.
...
Outside the stone mountain, the cultivators who had been present earlier plus those who had arrived later now numbered over a thousand.
They hovered in midair on their flying treasures, encircling the mountain, whispering among themselves.
Given their knowledge and experience, they had no idea what the celestial phenomena they had just witnessed actually signified. They could only make wild guesses. But even so, what had just happened had filled them with an irrepressible thrill of excitement.
The medicinal garden under Han Li's charge at the front of the stone mountain had naturally drawn the attention of many. Some had already charged straight through the protective wards to investigate.
But inside, aside from ordinary medicinal herbs, there was nothing — not a single soul in sight.