To leave the Netherworld Land, where magic power could not be used, one had to climb the tallest peak, Netherworld Mountain. The mountain teemed with Netherworld Beasts; without magic power, reaching the top was impossible.
That created an awkward predicament: to regain magic power, one had to climb the mountain, but to climb the mountain, one needed magic power.
Cultivators trapped here could only wait for death.
But Han Li was fortunate. He met Mei Ning, who possessed spirit communication qi, one of the seven kinds of pure spiritual qi. By transferring her qi to him, she helped Han Li recover his magic power, giving them a chance to leave the Netherworld Land.
Her condition was that Han Li help her find her older brother. Unfortunately, her brother was already dead.
Along the way, they encountered Zi Ling. The three escaped together and returned to the Heavenly South. Zi Ling and Mei Ning traveled together to explore the Heavenly South, while Han Li joined the Falling Cloud Sect.
Many things happened outside while Mo Caihuan was in seclusion.
Oblivious to the passing days and months, she devoted herself entirely to cultivation, and another fifteen years passed. She observed the restrictions within her body. Once she broke through them, she could achieve core formation.
Rather than rush to break through, she studied the restrictions' Dao patterns by matching them to silver tadpole script.
Dao patterns were natural phenomena manifested when laws interfered with reality, such as fire evaporating water into vapor. Humans called this process "evaporation," but Dao patterns did not use that term for the process of "water becoming vapor." The Heavenly Dao had its own set of "characters," which appeared under specific conditions.
Cultivation involved not only written characters, but incantations as well. Cultivators' incantations were obscure and difficult