Han Li's body froze and he quickly turned around to look.
Behind the red words, a line of faint golden words appeared indistinctly, and there were six words written in golden seal script on it.
"White Sparrow Valley, True Wheel."
The six words seemed to be shrouded in a layer of blurry golden light, making it impossible for anyone to see them clearly.
After looking at them for a moment, Han Li felt his eyes go dry and he quickly rubbed them. When he looked again, he found that there was not a single word behind the red words.
His heart skipped a beat as he hurriedly looked to the side. He saw that the surrounding people were staring at the stone wall with rapt attention. From time to time, they would whisper to each other. Everyone's expression was the same as usual. It was obvious that they did not see the strange scene from before.
"White Sparrow Valley … What kind of place is that?"
These three words echoed in Han Li's mind, but he couldn't remember that there was such a place in the Torch Dragon Path.
Han Li's mind raced as he tried different angles and methods in an attempt to find some clues from the large red words on the stone wall. However, he didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
It was as if the six faint golden characters were imaginary and didn't exist at all.
However, he knew that although it was only a glimpse, with his eyesight, it was impossible for him to have seen it wrongly.
As such, a sliver of hope rose in his heart.
No matter what, he had to explore this so-called "White Sparrow Valley". Otherwise, he wouldn't be satisfied.
But where is this place?
Han Li blankly stood in place for a long while before walking to a corner. He flipped his hand and took out the map of the Zhongming Mountain Ranges he had acquired when he entered the sect. He then immersed his spiritual sense into it and began to carefully search through it.
In the end, he stood there for more than two hours.
Han Li opened his eyes and put away the map with a flick of his wrist. However, the confusion on his face only grew stronger.
He went back and forth and looked at all the names on the map several times to make sure that he didn't miss anything, but he still couldn't find a place called "White Sparrow Valley".
"Could it be a secret realm in the sect?" Han Li's eyes flashed as he muttered to himself.
As he thought of this, he walked to the stone wall. After staring at it for a while, he turned around and walked out of the Supreme Profound Hall.
A moment later, his figure floated in the Void outside the Supreme Mystery Temple with his hands behind his back. His blue robe fluttered in the wind, and there was a hint of a thoughtful expression on his face. Then, he flew off in a certain direction.
…
Night fell.
In a secret room of the cave abode at the summit of the Crimson Afterglow Peak.
An ancient green lamp was lit on a vermillion red square table. It was unknown what kind of oil was burning in the lamp, but it didn't emit any smoke. Instead, it gave off a delicate fragrance.
The flame at the wick was abnormally stable and did not waver in the slightest. Although it was only the size of a thumb, it illuminated the entire room as bright as day.
On the square table, several thick ancient green books were stacked in one corner, and three or four jade slips were placed to the side. There was also a seven foot long yellow scroll hanging on the edge of the table, half rolled up and half dragged on the ground.
On the scroll, there was a vivid and lifelike green mountain peak. There were some small square characters on it, and the names of the peaks were written on it. It was an exquisite map of the mountains and rivers.
At this moment, Han Li was sitting behind the square table, holding a slightly damaged yellow ancient book in his hand. He was engrossed in reading it.
These jade slips, books, and paintings were all about the mountains and rivers of the Zhong Ming Mountain Range. They were all borrowed from the "Inner Scripture Pavilion" of Imperial Dragon Peak.
Apart from the few jade scrolls, these books and paintings were all unique copies. Originally, they could be copied and purchased, but in order to look up the most original map records, he spent merit points that were even more expensive than the purchase price to borrow these original ancient books that were countless years old.
Han Li did not miss a single detail. He carefully looked through all the contents of the written records and paintings, but until now, he had not been able to find a valley called White Sparrow Valley.
Although there were a few places with similar names, most of them were places that did not seem to be important to a sect.
The focus of his search was still concentrated on the black areas that he had seen in the Mo Ling Mountain River Map. These places were mostly forbidden areas of the sect. Most of them were not marked on the map, but there were many mentions of them in some written records.
After cross-comparing, he regretfully found that there was still no mention of White Sparrow Valley.
At this moment, the 'Ancient Cloud Scripture' in his hands was the last of all the ancient books he had.
In fact, this book could not be counted as a geographical record at all, but a travel book that recorded the scenery of the Ancient Cloud Continent. The person who wrote it seemed to be a frustrated cultivator who was unable to cultivate smoothly.
However, this book seemed to have been written very early, even comparable to the existence of the Torch Dragon Taoist Sect. Therefore, the book was attached with a layer of restrictive arrays.
Once the arrays were removed, the pages would immediately decay into smoke.
Han Li gently picked up a page and flipped to the back. His eyes followed the words recorded on it, sweeping up and down.
Suddenly, he frowned and pulled the ancient book closer. He stared at one of the words and carefully read it.
"There is a valley in the West Mountain, where flocks of white sparrows live. There was a shepherd boy who chased after the sparrows, but when he entered the valley, he could not see the valley. He could only see the palace and jade pavilions surrounded by dense fog. Hidden high platforms, dancing moths, immortals drinking with each other, panicking and not knowing where to go …"
Han Li looked at this extremely short travel book and did not say a word. In the second half of the story, the shepherd boy was hit by the golden armoured deity with a whip. When he suddenly woke up, he found that he was still standing in the valley, as if he was sleepwalking.
The scene described in this travel book was quite common in the secular world's supernatural novels. It was often called a mirage, and could not be considered a strange thing. Only the flocks of white sparrows in this book attracted his attention.
In the process of flipping through the book, he had seen names such as white oriole, snow pheasant, suyuan, and so on. However, he had never seen a white sparrow. This was the first time he had seen one.
After that, he continued to read the travel book carefully. Finally, he confirmed that among all the books, this was the only place that clearly recorded the word white sparrow.
"Where is this West Mountain …" Han Li held the ancient book in one hand and tapped the table with the other, falling into deep thought.
After a moment, he suddenly stopped tapping and took all the green ancient books on the table. He flipped to a certain page and placed it on the table.
Han Li pointed to one of the pages and muttered, "Youxi Mountain. The mountain is seventy-two hundred and fifty-seven meters tall. The mountain is long and narrow, extending from the south to the north. The slopes of the mountain grow Lu Yang Grass and Circling Sun Flower, and produce Yellow Phosphorus..."
"The West Spring Mountain is 8,931 Zhang tall …."
"Ze Xi Peak, six feet high …"
…
As the moon sank in the west, it was soon the latter half of the night.
Han Li, who had been sitting behind the square table, stood up and stretched. He gently closed the ancient books on the table and arranged them neatly at the corner of the table.
The only thing that was still open on the table was the map of the mountains and rivers.
However, this map was not even opened to a foot or so. The picture on it was of a mountain called West Forest Peak.
This peak was located in the western part of the Zhong Ming Mountain Range. It was an ordinary mountain with little spiritual energy. Because there were no particularly rare spiritual products on it, it had always been abandoned. No elders or disciples chose to live on it.
Its western part was close to the Pu Ling Valley, and its eastern part was opposite to a mountain range that was a branch of the Zhong Ming Mountain Range. In the middle, there was an extremely wide crescent-shaped valley.
This mountain was the West Mountain that Han Li had selected after many comparisons.
He believed that the crescent-shaped valley named Half Fault Valley was very likely the White Sparrow Valley that he was looking for.
Han Li's palm brushed over it, and the flame of the ancient lamp on the square table flickered slightly before extinguishing.
A wisp of white smoke curled up from the wick, exuding a delicate fragrance that lingered for a long time.
Han Li left the room, closed the door, and walked straight to the front courtyard. However, before he could walk out of the hall, he saw Meng Qianqian running over from the veranda.
"Elder Li, he's coming out, he's coming out …" Before she got close, she saw Han Li's figure and hurriedly called out.
When Han Li heard this, he frowned slightly, then raised his eyebrows and showed a hint of joy on his face.
"Come, let's go take a look."
As he spoke, he took a step forward and grabbed Meng Qianqian's arm. The two of them turned into a ray of green light and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
A moment later, the two figures appeared in a stone room in the cave residence.
In the stone room, the small Spirit Gathering Spell Formation was still in operation, and it constantly flashed with green light.
A giant white egg stood in the middle of the spell formation, constantly absorbing the Spirit Qi of Heaven and Earth that was gathered by the spell formation.
In the end, Han Li and Meng Qianqian stared at the giant egg for a full quarter of an hour, but they did not see any signs of it hatching.
"It was shaking very violently just now, and there were sounds of knocking coming from the inside of the egg. I thought it was about to hatch, so I hurriedly ran to inform the elder …" Meng Qianqian said with some embarrassment as she looked at the scene in front of her.
Han Li stared at the giant egg, and upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was an extremely small crack at the bottom of the eggshell. If one did not look closely, they would not be able to see it at all.
After a while, Han Li shook his head and said, "It has already hatched. It was just that it did not see the mother bird after hatching, so it was a little afraid and went back into hiding."
After saying this, he thought for a moment, and with a flip of his palm, a long shining feather appeared in his palm, and he handed it to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian took the feather, a little confused, and stared blankly at Han Li.
"Go and call the little guy out." Han Li said with a smile.
Meng Qianqian nodded, and her long eyelashes blinked a few times. She walked up to the giant egg skeptically, and reached out to gently knock on the giant egg.
There was still no reaction from the giant egg.
After a slight hesitation, Meng Qianqian used the feather in her hand to gently stroke the surface of the eggshell a few times.
As a result, this time, the giant egg seemed to have sensed something. It first paused, then gently shook again, but to a much smaller extent than before.
Meng Qianqian's beautiful eyes lit up. While gently stroking the surface of the eggshell with the feather in her hand, at the same time, she reached out her hand and gently stroked the surface of the eggshell.