Han Li returned to the secret chamber and sat cross-legged, his mind racing.

The potency of the half-furnace of Unified Essence Pills he had concocted was indeed impressive. His cultivation over the past two months was equivalent to nearly ten years of normal practice. However, maintaining such a pace came at a considerable cost.

Now that he had begun experimenting with concocting them himself, and with the True Words Treasure Wheel assisting, the success rate was decent. He naturally wouldn't use merit points to directly exchange for them anymore. After all, merit points had other significant uses.

Therefore, the raw materials for concoction became the key.

The掌天瓶 (Palm Sky Bottle) was now mainly used to condense crystal grains to ensure the Earthly Incarnation could condense heavy water. It could barely ripen Candle Spirit Grass to its limit, and likely couldn't ripen too many auxiliary materials. Most materials would still have to be purchased.

However, he didn't have many spirit stones on him now. Selling some of his previous spoils could scrape together some, but it wasn't a long-term solution and couldn't meet the demands of subsequent cultivation.

Han Li pondered for a moment, then flipped his hand and took out the Azure Mask of the Unstable Alliance.

There were many ways to earn spirit stones. Considering his current situation, undertaking Unstable Alliance missions to earn rewards was the most convenient and reliable.

Although there were also many missions within the sect that could earn spirit stones, that would be too conspicuous. He didn't want to expose too much strength within the sect, lest it attract unnecessary trouble.

Moreover, compared to the sect missions, the Unstable Alliance's mission rewards were higher.

As he pondered, azure light emanated from the mask, condensing into an azure light screen.

He looked at the mission area and quickly found some missions near the Candle Dragon Dao. There were quite a few, and the content varied. In addition to some missions seeking spiritual materials, pills, and spiritual treasures, there were also many hunting妖兽 (demon beasts) missions, as well as missions to find or assassinate certain individuals.

However, these were all relatively conventional missions. Some special missions also caught Han Li's attention, such as someone summoning several Earth-Rank Pill Masters to concoct a certain pill, or summoning a True Immortal proficient in restrictive formations to break the restrictions of a certain ruin. There was even someone summoning a large number of True Immortals to besiege a mysterious cultivator of unknown identity.

His expression suddenly froze, landing on one of the missions, and a strange look couldn't help but appear on his face.

That mission was: Find the whereabouts of "The Number One Swordsman of Tiannan." The mission reward was quite generous, and providing certain information could also earn a substantial reward.

After Han Li chuckled, he narrowed his eyes and pondered.

After the test that day, everyone left quickly. No one should have noticed the words he carved. It should have been the people from the Heavenly Sword Peak who later discovered his prank.

In that case, the person who posted this mission should also be from the Heavenly Sword Peak, and judging from the entry requirements of the Unstable Alliance, it was very likely to be Xiong Shan himself. He probably discovered it afterward, deduced carefully, and felt that this so-called Number One Swordsman of Tiannan might have absconded with most of the flying swords.

He was indeed right.

However, he had never told outsiders about his time in Tiannan in the mortal realm, so he naturally didn't need to worry about being discovered.

However, the fact that Xiong Shan could post a mission in the Unstable Alliance showed that he was likely a member of the Unstable Alliance himself, or at least had some connection with it. If it was the former, his cultivation base likely meant he held a high position in the alliance.

From this, it could be seen that the power of the Unstable Alliance was truly unexpectedly great.

In addition, someone had also posted a mission to "Find Bai Fengxian's whereabouts," which reminded Han Li of Bai Suyuan.

Han Li shook his head, stopped thinking about these things, and focused on checking the missions he was concerned about.

After a moment, his gaze landed on a hunting mission: Go to a place called Heavenly Cold Pool to hunt a True Immortal level妖兽 (demon beast) called Cold Porpoise, and bring back its corpse. The reward was quite generous, as much as four thousand supreme spirit stones.

Han Li had seen in the Candle Dragon Dao classics that the Heavenly Cold Pool was located in the extreme north of Zhongming Continent, even further north than the Xuanbing Mountain Range. It was a famous dangerous place in Gu Yun Continent. It was said that many True Immortal experts had perished there.

He pinched a hand seal and accepted the mission, then stood up.

……

Several months later.

In the extreme north of Gu Yun Continent, the cold wind howled and snow filled the sky. Everywhere was a vast expanse of white.

Several snow peaks stood tall amidst the swirling snow, silently enduring the scourging of the cold wind.

A cyan figure shot from the distant horizon, landing on the peak of a snow mountain, revealing a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion.

This person was Han Li, who had transformed his appearance using the Unstable Alliance mask.

Looking from the snow peak, in front of him was a vast lake, so large that he couldn't see the edge at a glance. The lake water presented a strange, inky black color, like ink.

Strangely, despite the low temperature, the lake water did not freeze, but rippled in the wind, rising in waves of black mist that floated on the surface of the lake.

This black mist exuded a biting chill, much colder than the surrounding cold wind.

This was the location of the Heavenly Cold Pool.

Han Li paused slightly on the snow peak, then immediately released a body of遁光 (escaping light) and flew towards the Heavenly Cold Pool.

This place seemed cold and desolate, withering everything, but in reality, it was not so.

There were many natural treasures in the Heavenly Cold Pool, as well as some specialty spiritual objects, which were of considerable value. Otherwise, it wouldn't attract so many people to come here to explore. However, there were many strange cold-resistant妖兽 (demon beasts) living under the black water, and they were powerful. Even if those who came here to seek treasure had considerable cultivation, they would still die at the mouths of these妖兽 (demon beasts) if they were careless.

Han Li flew close to the water surface, his eyes fixed on the lake surface, as if looking for something.

Suddenly, the water surface a hundred feet ahead "splashed" open, and a five- or six-foot-long妖兽 (demon beast) shot out from it, rushing towards Han Li.

This beast was shaped like a crocodile, its body covered in black scales, with a bloody mouth full of white fangs. A pair of swollen yellow eyes grew on its head, making it look very ferocious. The giant mouth bit towards Han Li's body, as if to bite Han Li in half.

Han Li's expression did not change, and he slightly raised one hand, and a azure light flashed.

The black sea beast's pouncing body suddenly stiffened and stopped in mid-air.

Han Li's figure did not stop, and directly passed through the monster's two rows of sharp teeth.

A red line appeared on the monster's body from head to tail, and then it burst open with a "poof," and countless blood and some internal organs fell from the sky and landed in the water.

Han Li did not pay attention to the situation behind him, and continued to fly forward, disappearing into the mist in the water area in a blink of an eye.

He flew like this for several hours, and he gradually went deep into the Heavenly Cold Pool.

The deeper he went into the Heavenly Cold Pool, the lower the surrounding temperature, and the more powerful some of the strange妖兽 (demon beasts) living in the water became. Some even had the strength of Body Integration or above, and attacked from time to time.

However, these妖兽 (demon beasts) were naturally nothing to Han Li. He dealt with them with a wave of his hand.

His eyes suddenly lit up, and the flying body stopped, his eyes fixed on the seabed, and he quickly waved one hand.

A azure light shot out and disappeared into the water.

After a while, "splash," a dark thing was wrapped in azure light and flew out, but it was a clump of seaweed, emitting a faint fragrance.

This thing was called Black Star Algae, and the bottom of the water here was full of this seaweed.

Black Star Algae was the favorite food of the Cold Porpoise, and such a large area of Black Star Algae would definitely attract the Cold Porpoise to come and devour it.

Han Li threw away the Black Star Algae, flipped his hand and took out a millstone-sized blue object, which seemed to be the internal organs of a certain妖兽 (demon beast), emitting a strong spicy aroma.

This was the internal organs of a妖兽 (demon beast) called Elephant Trunk Beast, which had a great attraction to the Cold Porpoise. He had spent a sum of spirit stones in the Unstable Alliance before he set off to exchange for it.

He took out a white talisman in his other hand, and after a point, the talisman turned into a white light and disappeared into the blue internal organs.

Han Li waved his hand and threw the blue internal organs out, falling into the black water.

Ka-cha!

The biting cold immediately wrapped the blue internal organs, freezing it into a black solid ice in a blink of an eye, and sinking into the bottom of the water.

Although it was frozen, the fragrant smell did not diminish, and it drifted towards the surroundings.

The white talisman was a sensing talisman. As long as a妖兽 (demon beast) devoured this group of internal organs, he would know immediately.

Han Li did not stay in place, and continued to fly forward.

The Heavenly Cold Pool was extremely large, and he naturally could not place all his hopes on this Black Star Algae.

More than half a day later, Han Li found another Black Star Algae, treated it in the same way, and left a piece of Elephant Trunk Beast's internal organs with a sensing talisman, and continued to move forward.

Half a month passed.

During this period, he found dozens of Black Star Algae, and left a piece of Elephant Trunk Beast's internal organs in each place.

Han Li stopped looking for other Black Star Algae, and hid in the central area of these dozens of Black Star Algae.

Not because he didn't want to look for it, but because the internal organs of the Elephant Trunk Beast had been used up.

Moreover, he had sprinkled enough bait, and the next step was to wait patiently.

One day two months later.

A shocking loud noise emerged from a water area, spreading thousands of miles away.

The water surface trembled violently, setting off towering waves hundreds of feet high, sweeping towards the surroundings, and the clouds in the air rolled, and the wind and clouds changed.

In the central area of the giant wave, there were Han Li and a black and blue pufferfish-like妖兽 (demon beast).

This beast was not large, only twenty or thirty feet long. Its bulging body was covered with black and blue bone spurs, but its tail was shaped like a scorpion tail, whipping like lightning. Rolling thick black air surrounded the beast, and various phantoms of human faces and beast faces appeared from time to time, all twisted and struggling, looking extremely strange.

This beast was the Cold Porpoise.

A huge aura emanated from this beast, and it had already reached the True Immortal level.

The pufferfish妖兽 (demon beast) kept making strange noises like a baby crying, and thick blue lights flew out with the flick of its tail, hitting Han Li like a rainstorm.

Each blue light contained a trace of法则 (law) aura. The area within thousands of miles was shrouded in a strange cold air, and countless white ice flowers and ice edges floated in the void, as if the void was frozen.

Han Li did not pay attention to the surrounding cold air at all. Two thick azure sword lights danced around his body, flying up and down like dragons, forming a sword net, blocking all the flying blue lights.