A short moment later, she let out a long sigh and said, “Those two were quite tactful. They didn’t leave behind any spiritual sense to pry. You can take out that Heavencrystal Stele now.”
Han Li inwardly sighed and replied, “How are you so certain that I truly have the stele?”
“If that wasn’t the Heavencrystal Stele, then what is? Don’t forget that a portion of my soul was your artifact spirit, and she saw the ancient characters written upon it. So long as you assist me in reclaiming my body, the Eight Spirit Ruler will be yours and I’ll even leave the Heavenvoid Cauldron in your hands. Although ordinary spirit treasures are incredibly rare, it isn’t a top grade treasure by any means in the spirit realm. But what I find strange is that I have an impression you still have a grand treasure of sorts, but I can’t quite remember what. You... didn’t perform any tricks on my soul fragment, did you?” With that said, Ling Long icily glared at him.
Han Li felt his heart jump, but he calmly replied, “Senior must be joking. With your vast spiritual sense, how could a mere mid-Nascent Soul cultivator possibly trick you.”
Ling Long sneered and examined Han Li with a malicious gaze. “I know that the artifact spirit pact has yet to disappear and that there is a memory related to it that is sealed. I am quite curious what treasure you possess that you hold even more dearly than the Heavenvoid Cauldron.”
Han Li’s expression turned unsightly, “What do you plan on doing with that information?”
The human-like puppet blurred to his side and began to shine with a layer of silver light.
Han Li had already resolved himself. If she intended on closely asking the question about the bottle, he would attempt to forcefully awaken Silvermoon through her bond as an artifact spirit. But it was more likely that he would be captured before Silvermoon was awakened. After all, he was helpless in the face of Deity Transformation-stage abilities, but luckily under their current circumstances, she didn’t dare to injure him.
Ling Long’s face grew frigid and her brows furrowed, displaying a faint trace of hostility.
Han Li vigilantly looked at her and took out the Triflame Fan from his sleeve, secretly casting a technique as well. At that same moment, the human-like puppet took out a small bow into its hand as well.
Then, a cackle sounded, and a rosy complexion and a sweet smile suddenly appeared on the woman’s face.
Han Li’s mind blanked and he cried out, “Silvermoon, it’s you?”
“Master, you are quite cunning. To seal away my memories about the bottle before I fused together with Long Meng. Were it not for our spiritual sense being gravely injured in the battle against the devil, forcing Long Meng’s soul to lie dormant, I fear you truly would’ve gotten away with sealing my memories.”
Seeing that Silvermoon’s soul had truly taken over, Han Li relaxed and happily said, “Didn’t you also agree to having your memories sealed? How else could it have easily succeeded?”
“Although I’ve taken control, Long Meng’s soul is far stronger than mine. After only a short rest or when our soul next takes damage, she will regain control. And although she had discovered the sealed memories from before, she didn’t have the time to pry into them. Such a simple blocking measure is very easily broken. If Master truly wished for information on the small bottle to remain hidden, you would need to use a spirit sealing technique. In my current condition, you’ll only be able to seal a small amount of information. This way, it will still remain hidden even if something were to happen to either of us, or if I was no longer your artifact spirit.”
“Then it will be done,” the happiness slowly faded from Han Li’s face and he sullenly asked, “Speaking of which, if you reclaim your body, will you be truly returning to the spirit realm?”
“I must,” an odd expression glinted across Silvermoon’s face, “Long Meng can’t call for a reverse spirit stream by herself, as we are damaged and part of another. And it will only be after I return to the spirit realm that I will have an opportunity to free myself of the status of an artifact spirit.”
For a time, Han Li remained silent.
Silvermoon slowly said, “How about Master cast the technique first? We don’t have the time to deliberate. In a moment, I will use the Worldbreaker Talisman to open the passage to the ninth floor and I’ll use the blood blade to tangle with the devil. You should use this opportunity to activate the Heavencrystal Stele. So long as you can activate the suppressing spell formation, I can use my soul devouring ability to forcefully take back my body. Once I devour Yuan Cha’s soul fragment, the matter will be settled.”
“Alright, I’ll lay down a temporary spell formation just in case the others return.” Han Li nodded and flipped his hand, taking out a set of spell formation tools. He sent them into the ground in streaks of light, soon covering a third of the hall in a mist of azure light.
Silvermoon simply sat silently and watched him.
Han Li sat down across from her and looked at her flawless face. “I will begin. Be careful.”
With that said, Han Li formed an incantation gesture and specks of light emitted from his body as he chanted a rather cryptic incantation. A short moment later, flaring light emitted instead, completely enveloping the two.
After the time it took to finish a meal, the chanting stopped, Silvermoon sighed, and the light disappeared.
She pressed her hand against her forehead, betraying a trace of pain from her face.
“Are you alright?” Han Li worriedly asked.
Silvermoon’s face returned to normal and she sweetly smiled at him, “I’m fine. The technique succeeded. Even if she regains control, she will not be able to recover the sealed memories. Let’s go, we have no time to lose. Long Meng could wake up at any second.”
Her original heartstopping beauty had made a complete return.
Han Li stared at Silvermoon and hesitantly nodded after making certain that she was fine.
The two then stood up and Silvermoon waved her hand, releasing a yellow talisman towards the hall’s wall.
As a result, a yellow eruption of light flashed, and the wall to the ninth floor’s spatial pocket ripped open.
Chapter 1072: Seal
After the blood blade struck at the wall, Han Li followed through with his fan, releasing a stream of tri-colored flame, followed by a golden swordstreak.
His puppet also released his bow, shooting an arrow of blinding flame at the same point.
Eventually the wall warped several times before it was forcefully dispersed. With the appearance of the hole came wisps of devilish Qi flying out.
Silvermoon let out a yelp and flew inside as a white streak. Han Li flared his Thunderstorm Wings and followed suit.
As soon as he entered, he saw countless strands of inky devilish Qi stirring in the air. His lips curved down and he summoned his Tailstar Essence Shield from his sleeve, forming a silver light barrier around him in a blur.
As soon as the black devilish Qi touched the barrier, he could hear crackles as the devilish Qi thoroughly corroded the barrier. His face winced when he saw it dim.
When he entered the abyssal vortex of devilish Qi in the Heavenly South’s Endless Sea, the devilish Qi wasn’t nearly as fearsome or thick. As he didn’t have much Divine Devilbane Lightning remaining from all of the previous battles, he had to rely on his Tailstar Essence Shield to resist the devilish Qi, but given how quickly even that was wanning, he wouldn’t have much time.
With that in mind, Han Li shot a glance at Silvermoon.
She was currently enveloped in sanguine light formed from the blood blade. Whenever devilish Qi clouded near her, it wasn’t able to touch her. It seemed she had good reason to ‘request’ the blood blade from Corpse Xiong.
Silvermoon shouted out to Han Li before directly shooting towards the center. Han Li blurred and followed close behind her, his light disappearing along the way as he concealed himself.
At that same moment, Silvermoon’s adorable laughter sounded from the directi
on of the altar, followed by several wolf howls and Yuan Cha’s frustrated voice, “Hmph! Since you’ve dared to return, I’ll turn you into a devil.”
Above the altar, two spheres of a crimson and black light were weaved together, twinkling with pure power as explosions occasionally shattered out from them. The giant spiritual pressure that it released caused the nearby devilish Qi to distort and roil as if they were two tsunamis colliding. For a time, it was unknown who held the advantage.
When Han Li saw that Silvermoon held fast, he felt somewhat relieved and blue light shined from his eyes as he gazed into the black seas surrounding him.
Although the implosion of the Black Wind Flag had thoroughly annihilated the altar, the two giant tablets on top of it were formed from Flexile Spirit Jade, an ancient material that wasn’t so easily destroyed. One of the two tablets should be usable with the Heavencrystal Stele.
After a short moment, Han Li spotted a pile of rocks and found two tablets buried within them. One of them was embedded with a destroyed Dragon Call Crest, but the other laid to the side, intact.
Overjoyed, Han Li quickly took a glance at the battle above him and circulated his Qi concealment technique, restraining his aura to its greatest extent before dropping down.
The descent went unexpectedly smoothly and unnoticed. With his feet deftly landing on the rubble, Han Li flipped his hand and produced a jade scepter. As azure light brightly radiated from it, a faint yellow barrier completely enveloped him and he sank into the ground.
When he reached the stone tablet, he felt his remaining worries lifted.
At that point, he had no further hesitation and summoned a blue ball of light from his storage pouch.
Han Li looked at the half-foot-long form of the Heavencrystal Stele. He then flung the jade scepter above him and took the stele into his hand.
After infusing it with his spiritual power, the stele trembled and its entire body quacked and flickered with brilliant light.
Han Li focused, gently pressing the crystal stele against the giant tablet and it sank into the stone enough to conceal its entirety.
Before Han Li could even process the change, a sudden reaction occurred.
A layer of blue light blossomed up from the tablet and it suddenly sank deep into the ground as if it weighed tons, slipping out of Han Li’s grasp. Half of the tablet became embedded and turned upright. When the tablet’s upper half let out a drowning cry, a furious shout rent from the black sphere of light in the sky.
Han Li’s heart trembled as he heard this and he pointed to the Tailstar Essence Shield, having it surge several times in size.
Then, a black beam of light blasted his position.
Following a huge explosion, the black light ruptured, immersing a forty-meter area in the most absolute darkness. The rubble quickly evaporated as the light swept across it, reaching the brilliant silver energy that laid underneath.
Han Li’s expression faintly changed as his barrier violently trembled from the impact. He struck the silver shield with several spell seals, suddenly turning its surface glossy. Most of the blackness then slid across it, giving the vastly weakened barrier some reprieve.
Yuan Cha had only been able to release this single strike before being re-engaged by Silvermoon.
Another strike would’ve surely sundered his defenses.
But because of Yuan Cha’s furious rage, she no longer dodged Silvermoon’s attacks and repeatedly released black light from her mouth. The nearby devilish Qi surged until they formed tides ten meters in height, moving to engulf Silvermoon.
But regardless, it was clearly too late.
A series of violent trembles shook the spatial pocket, followed by dozens of pillars of light erupting from the ground, condensing into huge hundred-meter-tall stone pillars.
Each pillar flickered with unearthly energy and dense rings of various-colored light roamed across their surface.
An inconceivable event followed.
The rings spun, causing the pitch-black devilish Qi that was originally choking the air to spiral towards the rings like moths to the flame. At the same time, the sphere of black light in the air released countless threads, one after another as if a web was being spun in midair.
In the blink of an eye, a huge ball of twinkling pure white took form around a pillar the size of a small mountain.
Han Li didn’t need to be familiar with the methods of the formation to know that the restriction was already activated, thus he continued to pour spiritual power into the tablet without delay.
The spiritual rings on the pillars thickened and absorbed devilish Qi at an astonishing rate.
In several breath’s time, nearly all the devilish Qi in the area was consumed by the stone pillar.
As a result, the black two-headed wolf found itself at a clear disadvantage as its fight against Silvermoon continued.
The wolf howled as it continued to battle fiercely, but Silvermoon was unrelenting inside her crimson sphere.
Relieved, Han Li struck the inscription with a spell seal.
The stone tablet released a series of drones and soon after, the giant white sphere suspended in the sky aggressively rushed down. Before it drew close to the broken altar, the oppressive spiritual pressure greatly alarmed the two-headed wolf, forcing it to disengage from its conflict with Silvermoon.
However, Silvermoon had other plans and coldly snorted as her body blurred from sight.
The sphere dropped down and a milky white mist instantly filled the hole left in the altar. Then the light completely faded away to reveal a crystalline barrier sealing the devilish Qi within.
When Yuan Cha saw this, she knew her defeat was quickly approaching.
She wildly glanced around and her eyes dropped at the giant stone tablet.
Having used the Dragon Call Crest once before, she immediately guessed what was going on and a fierce snarl flared on her face. With a howl, she blurred, and created three copies of herself, directly pouncing in the air towards Han Li.
Crimson light ruptured from Han Li’s side, followed by a sea of blood emerging from the light and enveloping his surroundings.
The wolves had been engulfed in the blood and were trapped within it.
Meanwhile, a ball of silver light flickered from within the sanguine sea and a dense storm of embers rushed out from it, enveloping the three wolves that were trapped.
The three were alarmed and raised their heads, each of them spitting out a black cloud to block the attack.
Not to be left out, Han Li flipped his hand, summoning the Triflame Fan into it. He waved the treasure in the black wolf’s direction.
With a clear ring, three foot-long flame birds shot out from the fan, diving directly at each wolf. Before they even arrived, their heat boiled the nearby blood.
The black wolf’s eyes betrayed terror.
“Good!” Silvermoon yelped with delight. With her hands forming an incantation gesture, her body grew hazy, shining with silver light before turning into a three-meter-long wolf.
When Yuan Cha saw that Silvermoon took the form of a huge wolf, something came to mind and she fearfully shouted, “Devouring Soul! NO! Don’t you dare!”
Soon, the wolves took a deep breath and spat out a stream of crimson Qi, wrapping around their body in a layer of crimson flame. When the flames touched the blood, the sea surprisingly evaporated.
In the blink of an eye, the wolves regained their freedom and shot into the air with black light wildly blurring their body.
But just as it flew forty meters, a clap of thunder struck the air and silver lightning appeared in front of them. Before the wolf could change direction, countless azure threads shot out from the silver light, binding the wolf in its entirety.
Chapter 1073: Soul Devouring
Frightened, the wolf form of Yuan Cha quickly brandished her black flames to meet the oncoming azure threads. But completely against her expectations, a cold snort sounded from the silver lightning and the threads weren’t tou
ched in the slightest.
The devil’s heart sank.
She found herself completely restrained as Silvermoon appeared before her and entered her body in a few rapid flashes.
The huge wolf trembled and its two heads let out a miserable howl.
Its body began to violently twitch and tremble with seizures.
One of the heads suddenly became sluggish for a spell, but soon became filled with life and its fur turned silver. It immediately tilted its head and bit down on the neck of its other head.
The possessor had yet to resign itself. It also bit down on the neck of the other head and the two heads found themselves tearing at each other’s throats.
Just as the battle began, the silver lightning faded away to reveal Han Li holding onto the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Concern was betrayed from his face as he watched the two-headed wolf.
Although the silver head took the first strike, the damage had been instantly healed. Layers of black Qi rushed out from the black wolf head in response and it fought on with rising fervor.
Han Li’s expression sank and he flicked the Heavenvoid Cauldron, resounding a clear ring from it.
The huge wolf that was trapped brilliantly shined with light and it soon tensed. The wolf body was no longer able to move.
Soon after, an arc of lightning leapt from his mouth and struck the black wolf head.
Golden light ruptured and thin arcs jumped in the air, instantly scattering the devilish Qi gathered around the black wolf’s head. It screamed in agony as its devilish Qi greatly decayed.
The other head then took this opportunity to produce a silver wolf phantom. This being stretched forward and took the black head into its mouth before pulling back and tearing along a mass of black light with it.
The light fluctuated in shape with the consistency of mud before finally taking the form of various ghost faces. They all had vicious expressions and exchanged fang and claw with the silver silhouette.
The silver phantom gazed in disdain and it flared with binding light, growing several times in size. It swallowed the black phantom in a single gulp and shrunk, then re-entering the silver wolf head.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 578