The black giant vessel hovered for a moment before emitting a thunderous roar and then broke through the air once more, vanishing at the horizon. Two months later, above a vast forest teeming with towering ancient trees, the immense silhouette of the magical spirit vessel suddenly appeared. On the foredeck of the vessel, Han Li, along with Yin Yue and Zhu Guo'er, stood together. The senior immortal cultivator, Hua Shi, respectfully stood slightly behind and a little distance away from the three of them. By now, this high-level elven cultivator had learned of Han Li's identity as a newly established senior multiplicative immortal of the human race. Though initially stunned, his earlier reservations had long since been completely set aside. During this time, he had diligently led Han Li and the others through most of the surrounding regions, visiting several sites where the ancient altars had been reported to appear. Yet, despite these efforts, Han Li and his companions had repeatedly come up empty-handed, failing to locate the altars themselves. "Is this the place you mentioned as the next destination?" "Han Li asked without turning around. "Yes, senior! This Dense Cloud Fierce Forest is well known even among our immortal clans, often referred to as a place of absolute peril for those below the stage of Huashen. Aside from beings at the Lianxu or higher stages who can manage to survive, most others entering the forest face a ten-to-one chance of losing their lives. This is due not only to naturally occurring traps that are exceptionally dangerous, but also to certain powerful, yet still unawakened, beast creatures, and several unique toxic insects that are particularly hard to approach. Of course, such challenges are utterly insignificant for a senior like you." The old elder, after acknowledging, explained with due respect. "Has the ancient directional altar truly appeared here?" Han Li nodded, his expression unchanged, and asked again. "Reporting to senior: in the central area of this marshland, several of our companions have observed the ancient altar several times from a distance." However, the altar itself is already damaged. Aside from some ancient runes that still hold value for certain array masters, it offers little practical use to ordinary people, so few have ever taken the time to examine it closely. "The old master replied. "Heh, well then, let's go down. I have a strong feeling the altar is likely right here—with about an 80% chance." Han Li chuckled. Zhu Guo'er and Yin Yue, listening to this, both looked delighted. So the group immediately drifted down from the great vessel and sped toward a vast marsh deep within the dense forest. A light green toxic mist hovered above the marsh, and any cultivator below the Lingxu stage would be unable to remain there for long without a special protective artifact. Moreover, within the mist lived tiny toxic creatures resembling leeches. If one failed to notice and allowed them to enter the body, removing them would prove extremely difficult. Thus, for most immortal cultivators, this place truly proved to be perilous. Yet to Han Li, all of this seemed as ordinary as the ground itself. After just a few silver flames erupted with a single roar, waves of intense heat surged outward, sweeping away the toxic mist within a radius of several mu, and in an instant, the toxic insects and creatures were completely incinerated by the silver flames, unable to approach Han Li or his companions even a single step. Occasionally, some stubborn beasts appeared, but Han Li needed not to intervene—each was swiftly dispatched by Yin Yue alone. Not long afterward, the group arrived at a quiet, unremarkable corner of the marsh. Han Li's eyes suddenly brightened, and from several miles away, he clearly spotted an ancient, simple altar, standing about a hundred zhang high, suspended above a pool of water. "Found it!" Han Li smiled gently. "You stay here, Hua Shi. We'll go ahead." The elder Hua Shi naturally had no objections and promptly bowed in agreement. Yin Yue and Zhu Guo followed Han Li excitedly, rushing straight toward the towering altar. In just a short while, all of them arrived side by side in front of the altar. Han Li paused, lifting his head to carefully examine the lofty structure before him. The altar was quadrilateral in shape, divided into three levels from bottom to top, with ancient inscriptions scattered across its surface—though most of them were now partially covered by a thin layer of pale green moss. Moreover, the corners of the altar had collapsed and were missing, giving it an appearance of exceptional age. "Indeed, this is the ancient Si Nan altar from the time of antiquity," Han Li said. "As the Flower of Preciousness mentioned, as long as we perform a special ritual at the right time and activate the specified spatial coordinates using secret techniques on this altar, we shall be able to locate the entrance to the small spiritual realm." "Guo, being born in the Small Spiritual Realm, your spirit naturally carries the essence of this realm. I'll need to draw upon a portion of your spiritual awareness shortly—only then will the calculated positions be precise enough." Han Li turned his head and said to Zhu Guo'er beside him. "Yes, I will do my best to assist!" Hearing this, Zhu Guo'er quickly responded. From her delighted expression, it was clear that she also looked forward eagerly to returning to the Xiao Ling World. By contrast, Yin Yue remained smiling and silent. Han Li had not withheld from his red-haired friend the details of Nangong Wan's situation in the Xiao Ling World—he had already informed her earlier. Given Yin Yue's current mindset, she naturally did not harbor ordinary feelings of jealousy common among ordinary women, but instead willingly agreed to join him in seeking Nangong Wan in the Xiao Ling World. While Han Li was confident that the precious flower could not deceive him in this matter, he had never before encountered such a method of using an ancient altar to calculate the entrances to other realms. It was uncertain whether any unexpected issues might arise during the spellcasting, or how significant the potential errors in the results might be. Thus, though Han Li appeared calm on the surface, he felt a subtle sense of seriousness as the moment approached. Had it not been for the description given by the treasure blossom—that using this ancient altar to determine the location of the small spiritual realm required specific times and hours—he would have already begun preparing for it, and would not have waited until today. Han Li gazed at the altar before him, his thoughts swiftly spinning. With a sudden motion of his great sleeve, a shimmer of golden light swept out, wrapping both himself and Zhu Guo'er within it, and they vanished. The very next moment, waves of energy surged from the highest level of the altar, and both of them appeared there simultaneously. Yin Yue remained at the very base of the altar, only lifting her head to watch Han Li’s every movement, her expression tinged with gentle concern. Han Li scanned the surroundings with his eyes. The upper level of the altar was completely empty—no objects in sight. Yet, as he glanced down at the ground, he immediately spotted a circular pattern array, marked with scale-like notations along its edges. The array spanned over ten zhang in diameter, nearly covering every corner of the uppermost level of the altar. Yet at some corners, the runes showed signs of wear, appearing remarkably blurred and indistinct. Han Li's expression shifted slightly, but he did not seem particularly surprised. He had already learned that as long as the overall pattern remained intact, minor local imperfections would have little impact on its spell-casting calculations. After taking a deep breath, Han Li pressed his palms together and chanted a series of incantations, instantly channeling them into the rune array. "Boom!" The ancient rune array, which had remained undisturbed for an unknown length of time, flashed violently before suddenly being activated. At the same time, colorful light points began to emerge above the altar and poured down toward it. Seeing this, Han Li's brow furrowed slightly, and with quick movements, he launched additional incantations with his fingers. The rune array's roar grew more intense, gradually causing the entire altar to tremble subtly. Meanwhile, slender ribbons of soft light began to coalesce around the area and spiraled upward, dancing in the air. The scene was nothing short of impressive. At that moment, Han Li suddenly raised his voice, halting his hand seal and pressing his palm, fingers splayed, firmly into the ground. A sharp "pffft!" sounded as a column of clear, shimmering light erupted from his palm, rushing through the pattern array and flooding the entire altar. The roar of the altar grew louder and more intense as it absorbed this pure flow of spiritual energy. This state lasted for the duration of a meal, during which Han Li had nearly poured one-quarter of his body's true essence into the altar. Yet the subtle suction emanating from the pattern array showed no sign of abating. Han Li took a deep breath, feeling a sense of relief. It was no wonder that although many people were aware of the existence of such ancient altars, few truly showed genuine interest. The amount of spiritual energy required to activate this altar was simply beyond the reach of beings below the Great Stage. Of course, if supplemented with some top-tier spiritual stones, even some mid-stage Consolidation-stage cultivators with substantial inner energy might have a chance to activate certain functions of the altar—though whether the actual effects would be truly significant remains uncertain. Moreover, these ancient altar functions are generally auxiliary in nature, and many late-stage cultivators find them unnecessary, likely never undertaking such efforts that yield little return. While pondering this, the patterned array beneath suddenly flashed with a brilliant surge of light, and the suction force vanished instantly. Then, with a loud "pop," countless colorful characters erupted from the array, spinning rapidly as they rose into the air, forming a luminous, expansive circular disc above the altar. Numerous symbols resembling the markings inscribed within the array were scattered throughout the disc, some radiating brilliant light, while others appeared dim and faint. Han Li watched all this and could not help but smile with delight. His body remained still, his hands gradually lifting away from the pattern, yet as his other sleeve trembled, a strange object suddenly shot out. It was an ancient mirror, faintly green in hue. Without a word, Han Li raised a finger and swiftly pointed it at the large circular disk, making several quick gestures in the air. A series of rushing sounds followed. Several crystalline filaments shot forth from his fingertip, vanished instantly, and then embedded themselves into several distant markings on the disk. After a few "pffft" sounds, these previously dim symbols suddenly brightened and began to rotate slowly. "Now, it's time," Han Li said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Yes, Master!" Alguo responded immediately, without hesitation. With a single finger touch to her forehead, a stream of spiritual awareness surged forth from her brow and swiftly merged into the center of the massive circular disk. In an instant, the several scale symbols that had been slowly rotating all trembled simultaneously and then spun wildly at an incredible speed.