“Brother Man and Brother Wu have no reason to dispute. The ones who took the treasure were amongst those three. As for who it was, what do we care? That’s secondary. What is most important is that we find them, regardless of if they are alive of dead. As of now, we’ve already setup a formation at the entrance to the the third floor, preventing them from escaping. Breaking into any of the secret rooms above the second floor is an impossibility for them. As they are all only early Core Formation cultivators, even if the three of them joined hands, they would be incapable of progressing through a room on the third floor or higher. Unless of course, they’ve lost their heads and decided to commit suicide in the attempt.”
“However, we’ve searched the entirety of floors three through five without finding even a trace.” Wan Tianming coldly said with a suspicious expression.
It wasn’t just him; all three of the Righteous Dao cultivators were skeptical.
They had held voice transmission conversations several times already and believed the most likely explanation to be that the three Devil Dao eccentrics were playing an elaborate ruse. They had deliberately drawn them away and allowed their juniors to seize the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Thus, while the three felt great remorse, they also vigilantly watched the actions of the Devil Dao cultivators, completely unwilling to allow the Devil Dao cultivators to leave their sights.
The Devil Dao cultivators naturally understood the intentions of Wan Tianming’s party. However, they were also burning with impatience, but could nothing. All they wanted to do was quickly find Han Li and the others so they could take the Heavenvoid Cauldron.
As the Nascent Soul cultivators were bitterly feuding in the Inner Halls, the Core Formation cultivators had already taken advantage of the chaos to escape with the treasure. If this news were to spread, they would become laughingstocks! Furthermore, how could they allow the Heavenvoid Caudron to fall into the hands of Han Li and the others?
Man Huzi was also at a loss as the Bone Sage wasn’t acting in accordance with their earlier agreement. Could it be that he truly had fled with the cauldron? Were it a common Core Formation cultivator, it’d be impossible for them to break through the restrictions of a third floor secret room. However, if were the renegade Ghost Dao cultivator, the Bone Sage, it would be possible.
Although suspicions began to spring into his mind, Man Huzi didn’t betray any of this in the slightest. But because he felt the need to muddy the waters to distance himself from this matter, he said with a cold tone, “Do you think it could be that the Star Palace elders still haven’t left and had actually remained hidden nearby? When they saw us run out, they could’ve taken the chance to slay the three Core Formation cultivators and acquire the Heavenvoid Cauldron.”
When they heard Man Huzi, they each looked at one another in dismay and then displayed pensive expressions.
Chapter 499: Wolf Artifact Spirit
As Han Li continued to fly far away from Yuan Yao, he felt an impatient urge to take out the Heavenvoid Cauldron and examine the contents. Shortly after giving in to this urge, Han Li felt like spitting blood. No matter what methods he used, the cauldron lid wouldn’t open in the slightest.
Regardless of whether he wildly poured magic power into the cauldron, or struck the cauldron with his magic treasure out of frustration, the only response would be a flicker of blue light.
Han Li eventually managed to momentarily calm down and consider his situation. Apart from being able to shrink and enlarge the Heavenvoid Cauldron at will, there wasn’t anything he could do with it.
Having determined this, Han Li vented his frustrations in the barren seas for a long while. The target of his groundless insults was naturally the Master of Heavenvoid Hall.
It was clear that the Master of Heavenvoid Hall was a strange individual. It wasn’t that a Nascent Soul cultivation was needed, but rather that a trick needed to be used to open the cauldron. It wasn’t as simple as pouring spiritual power into the cauldron. Could it be that opening it had something to do with the Celestial Ice Flames that had surrounded it?
With his mind clouded by emotion, Han Li could only make some muddled guesses.
But after some further thought, it seemed rather normal that the top ranked secret treasure in the Scattered Star Seas would require some sort of trick.
After only a short moment, he was able to discover two of the ancient treasure’s remarkable abilities. Its simplest ability was activated by pouring spiritual power into it, producing a red and yellow barrier around the user’s body. He had personally witnessed its power inside Heavenvoid Hall when he saw it block Layman Qingyi’s grasp without the slightest harm done to it. Its defensive capabilities were clearly immense.
Its other ability required Han Li to silently mutter an ancient incantation to the scepter. After he immersed his spiritual sense into both ends of the scepter, he would be able to either separately summon two small wolves, with one red and the other yellow, or he could summon one large silver wolf.
The small red wolf seemed to be created from pure fire attribute Spiritual Qi and was innately capable of many impressive fire spirit magic techniques.
Similar to its counterpart, the small yellow wolf was created from pure earth attribute Spiritual Qi and was adept in earth spirit magic techniques. There were a few techniques that Han Li had previously learned, but he was quite surprised to find that the wolf didn’t understand earth attribute movement techniques.
As for the silver wolf, Han Li found it quite troublesome. He was incapable of controlling it. Although the silver wolf would respond to his orders, it would always move quite lazily.
When he ordered the wolf to display what magic techniques it was capable of, the silver wolf brushed him off as if it hadn’t heard him. Han Li was rendered speechless when he saw the human-like insolence in its eyes.
Han Li was able to make out that the silver wolf was clearly the true form of the scepter’s artifact spirit. As for the silver wolf’s stubborn disobedience, Han Li could only guess that it was likely due to him having yet to completely refine the scepter.
However, Han Li had clearly remembered the astonishment that the Bone Sage had revealed upon seeing it. He had even released his Gold Lightning Bamboo arrow in the presence of Zenith Yin for it. There was undoubtedly more to the silver wolf artifact spirit than meets the eye.
As a result, Han Li put away the jade scepter without the slightest discouragement, and decided to take a look at the other treasures he had gained in Heavenvoid Hall.
There were the many treasures that the old devils had given him: the White Rhino Emblem, the Glacial Ice Pearl, the Royal Scale Plate, and so on. Although he had found nothing wrong with them after further inspection, he didn’t dare to continue wearing them and placed them all in his storage pouch, apart from the Royal Scale Plate. Han Li was unwilling to forgo its extraordinary defensive abilities and decided to have it remain on his body.
As for the puppet fragments, the half-bottle of Myriad Year Spirit Milk, and the half-finger-long root of the Soul Nurturing Tree, Han Li also examined them.
As he rummaged through his new gains, Han Li had unintentionally found a few small rainbow beads. This had surprised him, but he soon remembered where they had come from. When he had first discovered the transportation formation at the Heavenly South Region, he melted the rainbow skeleton, producing these rainbow beads as a result. With the Bloodjade Spiders nearby the the skeleton, it seemed that the skeleton had belonged to the Bone Sage’s other treasonous disciple, Zenith Brilliance.
However, Han Li still felt quite confused on why the skeleton was rainbow and what relation it had with the Emperor of Yue.
But as he gazed at the beads, Han Li was reminded of the Heavenmend Pills that had flown out of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. However, those pills were much larger and also shined with a far brighter light.
Han Li gazed at the beads in his hand and muttered to himself for a moment before putting them away with a solemn expression. Afterwards,
Han Li verified his direction and donned his blood-red cloak before shooting off full speed ahead. He tore through the sky towards Heavenly Star City as a red shooting star.
Although he lost a large quantity of spiritual power by doing this, it was several times faster than the speed of a common Core Formation cultivator. Currently, he wanted to return to his cave residence as soon as possible, preferably before the other cultivators even left Heavenvoid Hall.
It would have been possible for him to abandon the residence were it not for the meticulously raised Gold Devouring Beetles he had left behind. He was unwilling to allow those insects to fall into the hands of some future excavator. Perhaps the plunderer would also possess a secret technique to hasten their maturation as well!
Besides, he had already decided to immediately renounce his cave residence after returning to Heavenly Star City, and use the city’s transportation formations to teleport him to the Outer Star Seas.
This way, he could both acquire more demon cores and avoid any of the attention he had attracted during his time in Heavenvoid Hall, allowing him to break through the early Core Formation stage as soon as possible.
After Han Li lost a majority of his magic power, he stopped using his cloak and switched to his normal method of flight as he held a mid grade spirit stone to slowly recover his magic power.
When his magic power was just about restored, he resumed his use of the blood-red cape and hurriedly tore through the sky.
In this manner, Han Li was able to travel a distance that would’ve normally taken him half a month in the span of a few short days!
On the way, Han Li had encountered a few cultivators, but they were only at the Foundation Establishment stage or lower. He was disinclined to pay them any notice and hurriedly shot past them. When they saw the speed of Han Li’s streak of light, they naturally knew that he was a Core Formation expert and didn’t dare to bother him.
But as Han Li drew closer to Heavenly Star City, he began to encounter cultivators at greater frequency, even spotting groups that could be considered an army.
After a month had gone by, Han Li finally encountered his first Core Formation cultivator.
When this cultivator saw Han Li, he vigilantly avoided him and clearly didn’t have any intention of talking with him. This was completely understandable. But when he saw two more Core Formation cultivators act in the same way, Han Li felt that something was amiss.
Could it be that a significant event had occurred while he was in the Heavenvoid Hall? When this thought emerged, Han Li grew worried as he hurried along his way.
One day, when Han Li was slowly flying across the sea with a spirit stone in hand, he spotted a group of about eight cultivators flying nearby.They were all at Foundation Establishment and seemed to belong to a some local power.
Han Li wordlessly flew towards them as a streak of azure light.
Han Li didn’t conceal himself, allowing the group of cultivators to see him approach. They raised an uproar, but the old man in charge berated them, causing them to stay still.
Although the old man in charge had fully whitened hair, he was quite intelligent. Without waiting for Han Li to draw close, he took the initiative to respectfully salute him and asked, “What can these Juniors help Senior with?” His mannerisms didn’t hold the slightest flaw.
The azure light faded away before them to reveal Han Li. He indifferently swept his gaze past them and calmly asked, “What sect do you belong to and where are you headed?”
The old man solemnly replied, “These Juniors belong to the Three Immortals Sect. We are under orders from the sect master to head to Heavenly Star City!”
Han Li frowned and grew silent for a moment before he slowly said, “Heading to Heavenly Star City? Along the way, I’ve discovered that there were many cultivators heading towards Heavenly Star City as well. However, they appeared quite nervous.”
The old man inwardly sighed, but he hastily laughed, “Haha! It seems Senior must have spent quite some time in a desolate area to not have heard of this. Not long ago, a great event occurred at Heavenly Star City. All the closest sects and powers have begun to send people to the city!”
A paragon of chill.
Chapter 500: The Starfall Coalition
Han Li spoke with an indifferent expression, “What great event? I only left seclusion a few days ago. Tell me about it!”
The old man locked his fingers together and spoke carefully, “It is only natural for Junior to answer Senior’s questions. However, may I ask for your name?”
After he heard this, Han Li felt somewhat surprised. After he tilted his head and pondered for a moment, he mysteriously smiled and said, “It seems that you’re being quite careful. I am the Exquisite Sound Sect’s Guest Elder Han. Have you heard of me before?”
After he heard of Han Li’s identity, he let out a long sigh of relief and smiled, “So it turns out to be Elder Han. You can’t be considered an outsider then. Our own sect’s Fairy Xuedi is close friends with Sect Master Fairy Violet Spirit.”
Han Li was surprised at his claim that they were on the same side and couldn’t help but laugh.
Han Li’s laugh caused the old man to grow somewhat uneasy.
‘Did I say something wrong?’ The old man thought apprehensively.
Han Li’s smile disappeared. “I don’t involve myself in the matters of the sect, nor do I care if you are lying. All I want is for you to properly answer my question. I won’t make things difficult for you. What major event occurred recently?”
The old man pledged he was speaking the truth with smile, “How could I deceive you, Senior? All of my words are true...”, but when Han Li’s gaze grew icy, he immediately started his explanation, “There were rumors that had suddenly emerged recently in the Scattered Star Seas that the Heavenly Star Sages were on the verge of breaking through to the great success stage of Divine Essencefused Light. The star palace took advantage of this opportunity to start eliminating certain disobedient or uncontrollable powers. This was originally believed to only be a rumor, but not longer after this rumor was spread, the Star Palace issued an official command to powers of all sizes to have their sect leaders and island lords immediately come to Heavenly Star City and pay audience to the Heavenly Star Sages. Otherwise, they will be branded as traitors and be eliminated.”
Han Li blinked before speaking with disbelief, “Have every power pay audience to the Heavenly Star Sages? Did I hear correctly? The Star Palace gave such an obviously insidious command?”
The old man bitterly smiled, “That’s right. The official command stunned many powers upon arrival. Were this at the peak of the Star Palace’s power, there would be no problem with this order. But as of current, it would be surprising for the the powers of the Righteous and Devil Dao to obey.”
Han Li swept his gaze past the group and frowned, asking,“Then all of the cultivators I saw on the way were heading towards Heavenly Star City to pay audience to the Heavenly Star Sages?”
“That’s hard to say!” The old man appeared hesitant.
A strange expression appeared on Han Li’s face. He curiously asked, “Hard to say? What does that mean?”
The old man continued with a helpless expression, “Senior, there are some things I still haven’t said. Soon after the Heavenly Star Palace issued the command, the Righteous and Devilish Dao suddenly formed the Starfall Coalition, in proclamation of smashing apart the Star Palace’s hegemony in the Scattered Star Seas and ending their reign. The Righteous Dao has dispatched their enforcement elder Wan Sangu and the Devil Dao dispatched their towering hero, the Archsaint of the Six Paths, as the two leaders of Starfall Coalition. After the alliance was established, many sects belonging to the Righteous and Devilish Dao began joining under their banner. Unaffiliated powers have also joined them, and several tens of rogue Nascent Soul paragons have been appointed as elders in the alliance. In addition, the Starfall Coalition copied the Star Palace and made their own proclamation with what is known as
the Starfall Coalition’s Ghost Crest, proclaiming that any power to respond to the Star Palace will be branded as their enemy without exception. In addition, they claim that they will soon be launching an attack on Heavenly Star City and welcome all powers to witness the battle, and make their allegiances clear.”
Having heard this, Han Li’s expression remained completely indifferent, but his mind was left in a daze. This was beyond imagination! Such a massive event had occurred in the short time he had been stuck in Heavenvoid Hall!
For some time, Han Li was at a loss, but his mind suddenly stirred and he calmly gazed at the old man, asking, “What is the Starfall Coalition’s Ghost Crest? Do you have it on hand?”
The old man was stunned for a moment before enthusiastically replying, “It is in my sect master’s possession, but if Senior desires, I have a record of it on a jade slip that I can show him.”
“Yes! Let’s see it!” Han Li nodded with an indifferent expression.
The old man immediately searched his storage pouch for a yellow jade slip and hastily handed it over to Han Li.
Han Li bluntly took it and quickly immersed his spiritual sense into it. A second later, he felt shocked!
The crest appeared to be the same as the ghost head that the Six United Palaces’ Elder showed Wu Chou long ago. Although there were slight differences in appearance, it held a near exact resemblance. It seemed that the Righteous and Devil Dao had long colluded in secret, infiltrating other powers for many years with meticulous care.
Han Li was amazed and expressionlessly returned the jade slip to the old man.
Han Li casually said, “Since that is the case, you must be drawing close to Heavenly Star City so that you may observe the results of the battle and come to a decision afterwards.”
The old man revealed a trace of embarrassment. “That’s right, Senior. Under the command of our Sect Master, we are to head over and examine the situation. After all, our Three Immortals Sect isn’t a large organization, and can only choose to be pragmatic. However, in this short amount of time, Starfall Coalition has already launched an attack on the Outer Star Islands and has successfully taken them over. There were even islands that defected to the Starfall Coalition. It seem that the Inner Star Islands will soon be attacked as well. There are also a few scoundrels that have taken advantage of the situation to stir up havoc. Many rogue cultivators have ended up dead in the wilderness and no small number of small sects have ended up thoroughly exterminated.” The old man’s worrying words explained why so many cultivators had been so cautious as they traveled.
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