"Hehe, Junior Sister, you've made the round trip remarkably fast this time. It seems your errand went exceptionally smoothly."
Bai Guo'er had just materialized before a green stone door midway up the mountainside when a hearty laugh suddenly rang out from within.
The surface of the stone door flashed with green light and swung open of its own accord!
A yellow-robed scholar walked out — in his early thirties, with an extraordinarily handsome face. It was none other than Hai Dashao, whom Han Li had sent off to Sky Abyss City some two hundred years ago.
Though it had been two hundred years, Hai Dashao's eyes gleamed with a sharp inner radiance, and his skin had taken on a luminous vitality — he had clearly already become a Core Formation cultivator, and his physical body had grown far more powerful than before.
"Oh? Senior Brother, when did you return to the cave residence?" Bai Guo'er was momentarily startled upon seeing Hai Dashao, then her face broke into a look of delight.
"Hehe, your Senior Brother here just wrapped up a grueling assignment for Sky Abyss City the other day. Nearly lost my life on it. Now I've got half a year off, so I came back to see whether Master has emerged from seclusion yet," Hai Dashao replied with a grin.
"Then did you see Master?" Bai Guo'er couldn't help but ask.
"I didn't get to see the Master's true body, of course, but I did manage to wrangle a few bottles of pills from Master's second Nascent Soul. If all goes well, in another year or two, I'll be ready to attempt the breakthrough to mid Core Formation. Honestly, it's a bit embarrassing — as the senior brother, my Magical Power still falls short of yours, Junior Sister. I can hardly hold my head up in front of you." Hai Dashao grumbled in a half-joking, half-serious tone.
"Hehe, Senior Brother, you're too modest. You cultivate both the body and Magical Power — in terms of actual combat strength, how could I possibly compare? Besides, Master also walks the dual path of body and spirit. Most likely, Senior Brother Hai is the one who will truly inherit Master's legacy. It should be the other way around — I ought to be envious of you. And if we're talking about raw advancement speed, how could little old me compare to Senior Brother Qilingzi? In just two hundred short years, he's already reached the peak of Core Formation and will soon be preparing to condense his Nascent Soul," Bai Guo'er replied with a light laugh.
"What good is great Magical Power? In Sky Abyss City, I still have to play the part of an ordinary body temperer. I don't even dare let anyone know my connection to Master, afraid that someone with ulterior motives might take notice. Your Junior Brother Qilingzi is in the same boat — every time the two of us sneak away from Sky Abyss City to visit Master, we have to skulk about like thieves. How could that compare to you, Junior Sister, who get to walk in and out of Sky Abyss City openly as Master's disciple? Now that's something to be envious of." Hearing this, Hai Dashao pulled a woeful face and spoke with considerable envy.
"Master only lets me move about freely because I'm running errands for him and need to enter and leave the city often. It's completely different from you and Senior Brother Qilingzi, who have to conceal your identities in Sky Abyss City to temper your minds. But having said that — Senior Brother Qilingzi's inherited techniques and natural talent for cultivation have drawn nothing but praise from Master himself. On the path of cultivation, he may well go further than either of us in the end." Bai Guo'er blinked and smiled sweetly.
"That much is certain. But ever since Master brought you back to the human race a century ago and re-established his cave residence here, he's gone straight into seclusion. For our day-to-day cultivation, he's left everything to the second Nascent Soul and Aunt Ice to guide us. I really have no idea how Master's own cultivation is progressing." At the mention of their master, Hai Dashao's expression turned serious and a trace of worry crept into his voice.
"Rest easy. Master spent nearly a century searching for someone among the human and demon clans without success, so he temporarily set aside the search and entered seclusion to attempt the breakthrough to mid Body Integration. If I'm not mistaken, Master probably won't emerge until he's reached the mid stage in one go." Bai Guo'er tilted her head slightly, the corner of her lips curling upward.
"A breakthrough to mid Body Integration... Even with Master's extraordinary abilities, wouldn't that require at least a thousand years of bitter cultivation? Don't tell me Master plans to remain in seclusion for a millennium?" Hai Dashao's eyes went a little wide at this.
"I don't know how other Body Integration seniors cultivate, but our Master has fought toe-to-toe with late-stage Body Integration cultivators. His abilities are no less than those of a mid-stage practitioner. He must have some special means to accelerate his progress. I doubt it will take a full thousand years — I expect he'll be out before the demon calamity erupts." Bai Guo'er thought for a moment, then said firmly.
"That's true enough! Master must have resolved to advance to the mid stage as quickly as possible precisely because the demon calamity is drawing near." Hai Dashao nodded in agreement.
Both he and Bai Guo'er were brimming with confidence that Han Li would successfully break through to mid Body Integration.
And no wonder.
Over the years, Han Li had not only passed down cultivation techniques of extraordinary refinement, but whenever they encountered bottlenecks in their own practice, a few casual words of guidance or a vial or two of rare pills were enough to break them through and let them continue their advancement. This was the fundamental reason all three of them had progressed so rapidly.
Through one such instance after another, Han Li's three disciples had grown ever more grateful toward their master — and in their eyes, he had become increasingly unfathomable, seemingly capable of anything.
For now, however, Hai Dashao had no intention of lingering for further chat. After exchanging a few more words, he took his leave and departed from the cave residence, transforming into a streak of blue light that shot off into the sky.
Bai Guo'er, meanwhile, passed through the green stone door and followed a corridor straight toward the rear courtyard of the cave residence.
After passing through several layers of formidable restrictions, the view suddenly opened up into a vast, flat expanse of grassland. White clouds drifted overhead, spiritual green grass blanketed the surroundings, and the air brimmed with an aura of rich spiritual energy.
At the center of this grassy plain, one on the left and one on the right, stood two small mountains, each over a hundred zhang tall.
One was black as ink, the other a vibrant, emerald green.
Between the two peaks sat a three-story pavilion of translucent white jade, partially shrouded behind a thick, shimmering curtain of five-colored light.
The area behind the cave residence had been transformed by immense magical power into a self-contained miniature world nestled within the mountain — indistinguishable from the outside world in every way.