Han Li was ecstatic as he made a beckoning motion, and the seven pills flew out of the cauldron in a line before being drawn into a palm-sized jade vial.


    After stowing the vial away, Han Li exhaled as he made his way out of the room.


    From there, he took a nce at his surroundings, then conjured up a door of silver light, and Weeping Soul emerged from within.


    "Where are we right now, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.


    "We are currently in an unknown secret area that appears to be quite safe for now. I n to go into seclusion here for some time. If I can make some strides in my cultivation base here, then we''ll be better equipped to deal with the Immortal Pce cultivators on our tails," Han Li replied.


    "After what we did at the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, I''m sure the Heavenly Court will be sending some very powerful cultivators after us, so it would indeed be a good idea to stay here for now. I''ll keep a look out for you, go ahead and go into seclusion, Master," Weeping Soul said with a nod.


    "The entrance of this secret area is over there," Han Li said as he pointed up at a barely visible rift in the sky. "The rest of the secret area is sealed in all directions, so that''s the only ce that you need to keep an eye on."


    "Alright, in that case, I''ll cultivate while keeping a lookout on the za over there," Weeping Soul replied.


    All of a sudden, Han Li noticed a change in Weeping Soul''s aura, and his expression changed slightly as he remarked, "It seems like your aura has be quite a bit more powerful as well.""Indeed, Master. Ever since my awakening, I''ve felt a burst ofw powers that''s been constantly recovering and growing stronger within my body. At the same time, I''ve been feeling an insatiable hunger," Weeping Soul replied with a smile.


    "What is this hunger that you speak of?" Han Li asked.


    "I don''t know how to describe it, it just always feels like my stomach is empty. I felt a little better after devouring all those ghostly creaturesst time, so perhaps that''s the key. I''ll test out that theory the next time we encounter a powerful ghostly cultivator," Weeping Soul replied.


    "Alright, I''ll be leaving everything here to you then. I''m going to go into seclusion in that hall up ahead," Han Li said with a smile, and with that, the two of them parted ways, with Weeping Soul making her way onto the za, while Han Li entered the hall from before.


    He sat down with his legs crossed onto the jade futon in the center, then flipped a hand over to produce that jade vial, tipping out a golden pill that he promptly devoured.


    As soon as the pill entered his belly, a burst of formidable timew powers instantly spread through his dantian before flowing into the rest of his body.


    Han Li hurriedly closed his eyes as he channeled hsi Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, guiding the burst of timew powers toward the designated acupoints in his body.


    Momentster, his brows furrowed slightly as his eyes sprang open, and a hint of surprise had appeared on his face.


    As it turned out, waves of rippling golden light had appeared over the jade cushion beneath him, immediately following which the same golden light emerged over the other two unupied cushions as well.


    All of a sudden, it was as if ayer of golden liquid had been spilled over the entire interior of the hall.


    Han Li could feel a burst of peculiar timew power fluctuations all around him, cing him in a profound and indescribable state.


    An ecstatic look appeared on his face as he hurriedly began channeling the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra again.


    As he did so, five balls of golden light appeared around him, revolving incessantly around his body, and they contained his five time-attributew treasures.


    Collectively, there were over one thousand six hundred Time Dao Runes on the fivew treasures, and they were all glowing radiantly while giving off extremely formidable timew power fluctuations.


    With the emergence of these time-attributew treasures, all of the golden light within the entire hall began to unfurl like flower petals, forming a giant golden flower bud around Han Li.


    Han Li was ecstatic to sense the timew powers surging into his body, and he knew that there had to be other secrets waiting to be discovered in this secret area, but at the moment, cultivation was his top priority, and everything would just have to wait until after he came out of seclusion.


    ......


    Over two hundred years passed by in the blink of an eye.


    On this day, Weeping Soul was seated beside the sundial on the white stone za, looking up at the spatial rift in the sky with a contemtive look in her eyes.


    Seated with its legs crossed on her shoulder was a miniature silver figure that was close to five inches in height. The figure''s entire body was enshrouded in silver me, but there were seven vertical lines of fire of different colors above its head, making it appear as if it had a head of rainbow hair.


    Afterpletely refining the five beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, the Essence Fire Raven''s human form had be a lot taller than before, and it had also gained those extremely distinctive lines of rainbow fire above its head.


    As opposed to Weeping Soul, the silver figure was looking at the golden hall while swinging its little legs back and forth with an unhappy look on its face.


    "You''re also hoping that Master wille out of seclusion soon, right?" Weeping Soul asked with a smile.


    The silver figure nodded in response, and the lines of rainbow fire on its head suddenly pulsed a few times.


    Weeping Soul knew that it was very keen for Han Li to see its newfound powers following its absorption of the beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand.


    It had onlye of seclusion not long ago, and as it did so, it was unable to suppress the rainbow mes that erupted out of its body, which would''ve easily incinerated the entire secret area had it been left unchecked.


    Thankfully, Weeping Soul was able to intervene in a timely fashion and prevent the mes from reaching the golden hall that Han Li was in. However, the forest up ahead had already been burned to the ground, and half of the white stone za had also been charred ck.


    Right at this moment, the entire za suddenly shuddered violently, following which the entire secret area began to tremble.


    Weeping Soul immediately flew up into the air upon seeing this, and the Essence Fire Raven was caught off guard by her sudden movement, almost falling off her shoulder in surprise.


    After rising up into the sky, Weeping Soul looked down to discover that the gray mist around the secret area was churning violently while disying signs of retreating, thereby causing the secret area to expand.


    <em>This has already been the third time this month... </em>


    This was not the first time that she had witnessed this phenomenon, but with each passing instance, the gray mist receded by a more significant degree, revealingrger andrger areas in the process.


    Close to twenty secondster, the tremorspletely subsided, and the surrounding gray mist also gradually settled down.


    Weeping Soul cast her gaze toward the golden hall with a concerned look in her eyes.


    Han Li had already reached thete-High Zenith Stage eighty years ago, triggering a series of breathtaking phenomena in the secret area, but for some reason, he had chosen to remain in seclusion all the way up to this point.


    ......


    That night.


    There was a semi-transparent golden flower bud situated at the center of the golden hall.


    Han Li was seated with his legs crossed inside the flower bud, and his skin and flesh had be as translucent as jade, making his bones and meridians clearly visible.


    At this moment, there were as many as 359 immortal acupoints glowing over his body, indicating that he had already reached the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage.


    The rippling golden light glowing over the three jade cushions beneath had already be quite dim, clearly indicating that the timew powers within were close to running out.


    Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and two beams of incredibly bright golden light erupted out of her pupils.


    At the same time, he opened his mouth, and a wisp of white mist seeped out from within.


    Momentster, the golden light and white mist slowly dissipated, and Han Li blinked a few times as he took a moment topose himself.


    At a nce, nothing seemed to have really changed about him, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that his body was shrouded in ayer of barely visible divine light, which was a sign of a High Zenith cultivator that had attained a wless Jade Immortal Physique.


    <em>Looks like this is as far as I can go for now. As expected, jumping straight to the Great Epassment Stage was an unrealistic goal... </em>


    In the span of less than three hundred years, he had progressed from the mid-High Zenith Stage to the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, taking him to only a single step short of the Great Epassment Stage.


    While it was true that his cultivation had been enhanced by the special environment here, the seven time-attribute dao pills, and all of the profound acupoints that he had opened, this was still an astounding rate of progression that would have the jaws of the vast majority of cultivators dropping straight to the floor.


    Hence, even though he had failed to reach the Great Epassment Stage, he was still ecstatic nheless, and after sitting for a while longer, he rose to his feet before performing some stretches.


    Right as he was about to make his way out of the hall, a faint crack suddenly rang out beside his ears.