Chapter 1260: Spatial Node
After flying for five kilometers, the three remained silent. Han Li swept his spiritual sense in the space in front of him and he increased his speed as if he detected something.
After flying for a moment more, the party eventually came to a stop.
Han Li narrowed his eyes and he saw a giant ball of grey light in the air. He felt a chill spread throughout his body.
The ball of light appeared to be mostly round and half a kilometer in diameter. Although it appeared dim and vague, it also appeared unfathomably deep. A halo of light slowly turned within it
Although Han Li already knew the answer, he took a quick breath and asked, “So this must be the spatial node?”
This time, the woman from the trio answered, “Yes, Senior! This is the spatial node that the master and the others entered. In order to maintain the stability of the entrance, the master and the others spent much strength to place a peculiar seal on it temporarily. This way, not only will the spatial node’s stability be preserved, but it will also minimize its spatial fluctuations, preventing the cultivators from the Five Dragon Seas from noticing.”
When she mentioned Xiang Zhili, her face turned somewhat sad. The three clearly understood what it meant for Xiang Zhili’s primal soul lantern to be extinguished.
So it was like that. I was wondering why the spatial fluctuations of this area were so weak. Fellow Daoist Xiang and the others have sealed it.” Han Li couldn't help but sigh when he looked at the ball of light in the air.
But when the three Core Formation cultivators saw this, they glanced at one another as if signalling to one another.
“There was something that I wish to tell you, Senior.” A male cultivator hesitantly said.
“What is it?” Surprised, Han Li looked at him.
“We protected this place for over two hundred years. Although Master Xiang sealed the spatial node, it began to fluctuate for small amounts of time since a hundred years ago. Each time, the intervals between fluctuations became increasingly shorter. Since several years ago, it had already begun to fluctuate once a year, each time lasting half a month.”
Alarmed, Han Li’s expression faintly changed, “So it was like that! You mean that saw the seal on the spatial node won’t last much longer.”
The other man of the trio explained in a solemn tone, “I’m afraid it is so. According to the trend, after a hundred more years, the spatial node will become unstable, given that it doesn’t disappear. I fear that Senior won’t be able to enter the node as easily as Master Xiang and the others did.”
“In a hundred years? That quickly?” Han Li’s expression became unsightly.
“This was merely something we concluded after some thought. Perhaps it is unfounded.” The female cultivator quickly added with a smile.”
Han Li mulled over his thoughts and slowly said, “I can only stay here for a few years and find out for myself. I had better properly investigate the spatial node. I won’t be leaving for some time.”
Xiang Zhili’s disciples naturally didn’t raise any opposition to the matter and repeatedly called out to him.
Soon after, Han Li waved his hand and had the three first return to the island so that he could stay there alone.
In the blink of an eye, only Han Li remained in front of the huge ball of light.
His expression grew varied as he continued to stare at it. The words the trio had said left him deeply worried.
As Han Li pondered, his face grew sullen, ‘If those three were right, then I would have to enter the spatial node within a hundred years. It will be rushed and the danger of failing will certainly be higher. But if I don’t take this opportunity, I may never find another way to enter the Spirit Realm, even if I had another thousand years. The old eccentrics have been searching for one for a long while and didn’t hesitate to enter one as soon as they found one. I had already given them most of the information I had on spatial nodes. They didn’t have much hope of finding another spatial node they could use.’
Han Li remained underneath the huge ball of light for nearly a whole day before returning to the island.
When Han Li returned, the three disciples had already cleaned out the largest of the buildings for “Senior” Han’s use.
When Han Li saw this, he was very pleased. With the addition of their service of guarding the spatial node, he presented to them each a magic treasure and several bottles of medicine pills.
The Core Formation cultivators were overjoyed and expressed their ranks.
Soon after, Han Li used the Myriad Distance Talisman to tell Nangong Wan and the others to dispatch several reliable Core Formation cultivators to the island, also requesting Tian Qin’er to accompany them.
With Tian Qin’er cultivating with the aid of Han Li’s medicine pills, she now spent most of his time researching spell formation and restrictions. She was already astonishingly talented in the field and now that she spent even more time, she has made significant gains. Her mastery over spell formations was now far beyond that of Han Li’s.
He feared he would need the woman’s spell formation knowledge for his journey into the spatial node.
Afterwards, Han Li kept watch over the huge ball of light almost every day for some time. Then he would return to the island and contemplate over the changes he observed.
After a year, Tian Qin’er and three Core Formation cultivators had finally arrived at the island.
Han Li immediately released the three Core Formation cultivators originally guarding the island and assumed direct control of the area.
Although Tian Qin’er was struck at late-Core Formation stage, Han Li specifically gave a bottle of the Returning Sun water, allowing her more opportunities to condense a Nascent Soul.
When Han Li saw she finally arrived, he immediately brought her to look at the spatial node and see whether or not the seal could be strengthened, giving him more time to prepare.
Unfortunately, despite her inconceivable mastery over spell formation, she hadn’t touched upon the subjects involving spatial power. After several months of strenuous research, she eventually found a method to gradually strengthen the seal.
However, this method only had a thirty percent chance of success in stopping the entrance from collapsing.
Although the odds weren’t very high, he had no other options and could only give the method a try.
As for the rare materials it would require, Han Li could only journey throughout the Five Dragon Seas to find them.
This took him about six years with his abilities.
In this time, he discovered that the situation was exactly as Xiang Zhili’s disciples had described. The spatial node would fluctuate every year with each interval in between decreasing and each successive fluctuations becoming increasingly violent.
As a result, Han Li’s original joy from entering Deity Transformation had completely disappeared.
When Tian Qin’er finished her extremely complex spell formation and added another layer of seals on the spatial node, he began to ponder whether or not he should use the opportunity to scour the mortal realm of particular defensive treasures and techniques in preparation to enter the spatial node.
But several days prior from when he planned to leave, a sudden flash of light occurred from outside the sea mist and it arrived at the edge of the mist in an instant.
The light faded to reveal a silver-robed woman of peerless beauty. She appeared in her twenties with a fine brow and an exquisite nose. Her eyes shined brilliantly with silver light faintly stirring inside them.
She examined the mist in front of her a moment and flipped her hand, producing a jade slip. She read through it with her spiritual sense and wore a smile.
“This should be the spatial node that the Heavenly Devil Sect juniors mentioned.”
The woman muttered to herself. Knowing where the spatial node was, her body moved and flew towards in a streak of silver light.
The sea mist roiled and it completely concealed her from sight.
Currently, the island in the mist was no longer guarded as the day Han Li arrived. While Tian Qin’er was placing down the seal on the spatial node, she had also placed several profound spell formation nearby the small island. They possessed more than enough power to trap a Nascent Soul cultivator for a time.
As a result, the silver-robed woman was caught off guard and ran into the formations as soon as she arrived at the island.
When the restrictions were activated the countless lightning birds appeared in the nearby air and swooped down towards the woman. At the same time, a dense barrage of wind blades and ice spikes shot at her.
The silver-robed woman was startled, but she soon let out a cold snort and raised her hand.
An icy white wind suddenly blew out from her body, soon violently expanding in size until the winds blew all around her, creating a violent storm of awesome momentum.
Rolls of thunder erupted from the sky and the storm completely swept away all of the attacks, completely shattering them before they could touch her.
Such loud movements drew the attention of the four Core Formation cultivators stationed on the island, and in their alarm, they flew up from the island to figure out what was happening.
The silver-robed woman looked at all the cultivators that flew up from the island and couldn't help but show her hostility.
She raised her hand to the four cultivators as if she were about to launch something at them.
At that moment, the woman suddenly heard Han Li’s voice at her ear, “Fairy Feng, please show mercy! My subordinates were only following my orders. I hope you don’t take offense.”
“It’s you?” When the silver-robed woman heard this, her face greatly changed, but she was slow to lower her hand.