Nevertheless, I will remember this despicable act. Listen well. When we enter the North Night Palace, we will exterminate all of the low-grade cultivators that remain outside of Spirit Void Hall!”
The Ice Sea beasts accompanying her all let out a grunt of acknowledgment.
The child chuckled and said, “That is fine. Let’s start by breaking the formation. Our Myriad Demon Valley low-grade followers will be completely unaffected. So long as the glacial Qi disperses, we’ll lend our strength. But before then, we’ll need to destroy their grand formation first.” Then, he opened his mouth and spat out a ball of black Qi, unveiling itself in front of them as a small grey formation flag.
When the silver-clothed woman saw the flag, her heart stirred and she quickly examined it.
The flag was only six inches large and was enveloped in a layer of grey light. Phantoms of countless demon beasts revealed themselves from the flag’s surface. It was entirely silent, running contrary to their ferocious images.
The silver-robed woman looked at the banner before glancing at the child, “Could that be your valley’s Myriad Demon Banner?”
The child proudly said, “Fellow Daoist Phoenix is quite perceptive! It has been soaked in the demonic Qi for tens of thousands of years. Its power is beyond imagination. Although my incarnation will not be able to display the full power of the banner, with your assistance the grand formation shouldn’t last more than a few days!”
He pressed his hands together and struck the formation flag with a gray spell seal.
Grey light flourished and the small banner whirled in the air. The myriad of demon beast phantoms it revealed violently stirred.
When the silver-robed woman saw this, she nodded and shouted a command. The demons escorting her soared into the air and spat out mist or magic treasures.
The old man expressionlessly let out his own chain of orders as well.
The Myriad Demon Valley members flew high up and released their treasures.
In the following moment, demon winds nearly enveloped half the sky.
The child bellowed in laughter when he saw this, but his face soon grew tense, uttering a cryptic incantation.
The Myriad Demon Banner grew massively in conjunction to the incantations.
The chants continued for the time it took to finish a cup of tea. In that time, the flag pole turned meter-wide and became a towering three-hundred-meters tall. Each of the demon beast phantoms on the banner’s surface appeared true to life and flew
“Go!” The child let out a thunderous shout and urged the spell to activate.
Violent roars deafeningly roared from the phantoms on the banner’s surface, each of them emitting demonic Qi from their mouths. The clouds of it clashed against the white glacial Qi enveloping the air. The metamorphosed demons displayed their might as well and charged forward.
At the same time, a dozen silhouettes appeared amidst the glacial Qi, hidden within the grand formation. Their hands lit up with light before rushing to confront the demons.
In the blink of an eye, the war was about to unravel.
Chapter 1098: Cleansing Essence with Glacial Flames
As the war unfolded, a storm roiled within the hill of stones inside Profound Jade Cave. A purple lotus enveloped Han Li as he held his hand in an incantation gesture. An exceptionally thin sliver of purple flames trailed into the huge light sphere in front of him.
In addition to Han Li’s own flames, black, white, yellow, and green glacial flames shot into them, all of them coming from other cultivators that were sitting in their lotuses.
At the moment, these five cultivators had pale complexions and tired faces.
The surface of the light sphere was wrapped in wandering flames where a single silhouette was sitting cross-legged.
No longer an old dwarf, Master Arctic Dragon now appeared to be three meters tall and his age regressed to a man of thirty years at the peak of his health. However, his face still contained a strong resemblance to his former self. It was truly an odd sight to behold.
At the moment, pure immense essence pierced into his shoulders, abdomen, and nape in the form of sparkling silver blades. Through they were embedded halfway, they didn’t leak even a drop of blood.
But what was most noticeable was the several various-colored light worms emitting from his half-closed eyes. The flesh from his body seemed to be a lair of them, as they continuously burrowed in and out from his flesh.
Each time a worm emerged, Arctic Dragon’s body trembled and agony briefly appeared on his face.
Under closer inspection, one would astonishedly discover that the worms were condensed from the different glacial flames. And each time the worms reemerged from his skin, it became smaller.
Once the worms shrunk to a certain extent, the light worm scattered in a bang. Immediately after, a strand of flame of an identical color would condense into another worm of light and burrow into Arctic Dragon’s body.
This scene continued repeatedly.
Also, there was an astonishing sight occurring right outside his Dantian. There was a three-inch-large Nascent Soul that resembled Arctic Dragon. It had its hands clasped in an incantation gesture and its body was covered in layers of flickering blue flames. The light worms seemed to ignore the blue flames and parted through them, only for them to enter through the Nascent Soul’s nose and leave through its mouth a moment later.
The Nascent Soul was expressionless and the flames pulsed from its body, adding an air of mystery.
After an unknown amount of time, the man’s body violently trembled and he suddenly opened his eyes.
Han Li and the others seemed to have been given a sign and they all switched incantation gestures at nearly the same time. The huge light sphere above them collapsed into the various flames that originally formed it and were recalled to their original owners and the lotuses that surrounded each of the cultivators dissolved into air.
Afterwards, they took their medicine pills and they took out their spirit stones before entering a meditative rest.
This had continued as a cycle of several days over a dozen times over already. Each time, they would drain a majority of their magic power, but fortunately, they were rich with spirit stones and medicines and they were able to restore their power after only half a day.
When Han Li and company withdrew their glacial flames this time, Arctic Dragon closed his eyes as if meditating for the spell.
As time slowly passed, the old woman eventually opened her eyes and examined Arctic Dragon still sitting within the sphere of light. She let out a deep sigh, “I truly admire Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon for being able to bear through the pain of the cleansing of five flames. Although we are meticulously controlling the power of the flames, the pain must be worse than death itself. It seems you’ve cultivated a body forging technique of some sort or your body would’ve already collapsed. It would be impossible to survive relying on spiritual sense alone.”
The azure-robed middle-aged man soon opened his eyes and smiled, “Lady Long is truly knowledgeable. Senior Martial Brother Arctic Dragon didn't cultivate such a technique long ago. His body is far more durable than that of other cultivators.”
“No wonder!” The grey-robed monk added with a solemn expression, “However, we’ve nearly done everything we can, having already purified his essence several times with our flames. I figured that his body and Nascent Soul have already reached their limits and we are soon approaching the final stage. In two days, we’ll find out if it is a success!”
On the side, Han Li calmly stated, “But the Profound Jade Glacial Qi inside the formation seems somewhat lacking. We’ll may need to halt it temporarily to replenish it.”
Within the sphere of light, Arctic Dragon yelped with surprise, “I didn’t expect Fellow Daoist Han to understand the technique to this degree. That’s right, we’ll need to gather more of the Profound Jade Glacial Qi than what we sealed in.”
Han Li’s heart trembled and looked in his direction.
At an unknown time, Arctic Dragon had stood up and his figure was slowly floating upward from the condensed glacial light. The five blades piercing into his body had disappeared at an unknown time, leaving not the slightest injury behind. His face betrayed an enchanting smile.
Han Li chuckled and casually answered, “Really? That was only a guess!”
While Master Arctic Dragon took out a blue robe from his storage pouch and draped it over himself, he continued, “Brother Han already reached that level of understanding? How do you feel about my odds of success in breaking through this bottleneck? Are your thoughts any different than mine?”
Maintaining a calm face, Han Li casually replied, “You must be joking! The secret technique is your discovery. How can my understanding be greater than yours?”
Arctic Dragon chuckled and said nothing else. With his body still floating in the air, he flicked his fingers and several spell seals shot out, fading into the light barrier surrounding them as soon as they appeared.
The spell formation let out a series of strange drones before suddenly coming to a stop.
The five pillars of light disappeared in the blink of an eye and their respective cultivators floated down from them.
With the barrier gone, the storm of glacial light swept in from the outside but the cultivators were already prepared. They once again enveloped them in glacial flames.
“In the coming day, I will make slight revisions to the spell formation. Then, I’ll gather back the glacial Qi. Take this opportunity to rest as I still need your help. If we truly succeed, I will agree to any of your requests, so long as they are within reason!” Arctic Dragon stretched out his arms before saluting to Han Li and the others. He appeared completely sincere.
The old woman chuckled, “Do not worry, Fellow Daoist Shi. Since we’ve already come to an agreement, we’ll do our best. And if this technique is truly effective in progressing to Deity Transformation stage, we may try to make a similar attempt one day.”
The monk calmly added, “If any of us manage to enter late-Nascent Soul stage, there could be an opportunity.”
Han Li nodded but said nothing.
Arctic Dragon wore a satisfied expression and loudly uttered his thanks, then moving on to make a few alterations to the spell formation.
Han Li and the other two outside cultivators returned to the room of Great Yang Essence Stone to rest. A while later, the azure-robed middle-aged man and Bai Mengxin followed suit.
Although they easily restored their magic powers, their spiritual senses felt drained after controlling glacial flames for several days.
A day quickly passed.
When Han Li and company left the stone room, Master Arctic Dragon was again meditating cross-legged in a sphere of glacial Qi at the center of the spell formation. The sphere of glacial Qi was several times larger than the day before.
It appeared he had done his due diligence. He had spent the entire day exposed to the outside.
Just as Han Li thought to examine the specific changes in the spell formation, he suddenly heard a strange sound from the monk’s mouth.
He looked behind him and saw that the monk was flying up in the air with an odd expression on his face.
His expression stirred and he quickly looked around him with a slight change in expression.
Not only did the exit to the cavern disappear, but the cauldron used to create it disappeared as well.
“Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon, what is the meaning of this?” When the old woman saw this, she lost her calm and wore a vigilant expression.
Arctic Dragon remained completely calm and replied with a smile, “Hehe, there is no need to worry. Because I don’t wish for anything to disturb us, I sealed the exit for the time being. I suspect I’ll also need to draw on the Celestial Blue Cauldron’s power to make the breakthrough.”
“So it was like that!” The monk and the woman exchanged a cautious glance. As for Han Li, he narrowed his eyes as he silently looked upward.
The atmosphere in the cavern became tense.
Arctic Dragon chuckled and spoke to the three outside cultivators with a pleasant face, “It seems my actions have been inconsiderate and have caused you to worry. It's fine if I don’t use the cauldron. How about I have the Celestial Blue Cauldron placed outside of the cave? I will still have to seal the entrance temporarily.”
Soon after, he waved his sleeve and a cauldron wrapped in blue flames flew out from the cauldron and instantly flew a kilometer into the air, arriving just underneath the exit.
Although Han Li and the others didn't reveal it, they appeared much more at ease now that the cauldron was far out of reach from Master Arctic Dragon.
After a moment of thought, the old woman’s tense expression eased and she heartily laughed, “Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon is quite thoughtful! How could any of us harbor doubts of you? We were only curious. Now that we’re pressed for time, let us continue in having you break through your bottleneck!”
Chapter 1099: Suspicions
The grey-robed monk stealthily gave Han Li a sound transmission, “Brother Han, what do you think? Although Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon’s words hold reason, I have my suspicions. As for Fellow Daoist Long, I know she has some relationship with North Night Palace. We’d best be careful!”
Han Li’s heart trembled and he shot a glance at the monk, seeing that he was smiling at him.
As he pondered over the validity of the monk’s words, a huge boom rumbled from Spirit Void Hall above them. The entire cavern faintly trembled as if a result from an intense strike.
Surprise was faintly revealed from everyone’s faces.
At the moment, if one was on top of North Night Palace’s giant mountain, they would spot a majestic snow phoenix the size of a hundred meters. It was circling the barrier covering the huge mountain, glacial winds whistling past its wings. Its claws held a giant glacier three times larger than itself, and it let go.
The towering glacier tore through the air as it fell, resulting in a world-shaking explosion.
Blinding streaks of white light burst forth as the magnificent barrier began to warp, but in the end, it managed to stay intact. However, the pressure from the attack managed to collapse the more fragile buildings.
As one might expect, the huge phoenix was the demonform of the silver-robed woman from before. Her heart still boiled with rage over having the low-grade Ice Sea Demons slaughtered under the effects of the Sea Calming Bell.
As a heavenly ice-attributed spirit beast, she could ignore the effects of the outer grand formation formed from glacial mist and make her way directly to the city of ice, allowing to wreak havoc directly on North Night Valley’s defensive restrictions.
Although her first strike succeeded and threw the cultivators on the mountain into a panic, it also alerted the high-grade cultivators to react.
A ring of white light flashed from the demon bird’s body. Just as it was condensing another glacier at its claws, a silver streak and a ball of white light flew out from the barrier below, Bai Yaoyi and the grey-haired old man.
But before they drew close, Bai Yaoyi let out a yelp and sent two silver swords forward. As for the grey-haired old man, with a sullen expression he grasped his hands together and summoned a treasure from his sleeve. It expanded in front of him to reveal a translucent jade bottle.
The bottle flickered with light and rumbling booms sounded from it.
When the ice phoenix saw this, her pair of green eyes glinted and waved her wings, condensing a dozen thirty-meter-long ice spears in an instant and launching them at the two cultivators.
The old man snorted. White light formed from his hands and he shook the jade bottle in his hand. The bottle spouted a dozen clouds of black and white light that strangely tangled with the spears as soon as they appeared.
In a profound display, the ice spears rapidly shrunk upon contact with the light, soon turning them into the size of arrows before the light was sucked back into the jade bot
tle.
When the ice phoenix saw this, she blurred from sight and summoned a giant snowstorm in her place. It completely submerged their surroundings.
Unwilling to show any weakness, light brightly shined from Bai Yaoyi and the grey-haired old man as they met the storm head-on.
Thunderous explosions boomed from above the top of the giant mountain. The twinkles of light leaked out from the dense snowstorm. But strangely enough, no other elders headed out to assist the two cultivators. If they weren’t occupied with controlling the two spell formations, they were likely fighting other high-grade demon beasts.
...
As the battle fully unfolded outside, Han Li and the others inside Spiritvoid Hall were able to sense the pressure of the battles and they looked at each other in dismay.
Arctic Dragon glanced at the exit and a solemn expression appeared on his face.
With a heavy voice, Arctic Dragon said, “It seems the demons have started their attack in earnest. As such, we won’t be opening the cavern opening, or we will be disturbed when the time comes and our efforts will become wasted. Since I planned on having you all help us deal with these demons, I don’t have the slightest intention of harming you.”
The monk frowned and slowly said, “Brother Arctic Dragon’s words are reasonable, but if we succeed in breaking through your bottleneck, your cultivation will rapidly increase but we will left exhausted. Being sealed underground for such a long time has left us a bit restless. As the saying goes, wise men make preparations for possible danger. We all have some degree of friendship with your palace, but your words aren’t enough for us. Are we supposed to trust our lives with you so easily?”
Arctic Dragon replied with a helpless tone, “It is no wonder you are all so careful. If I were in your position, I would feel the same. Is there anything I can do to be more accommodating?”
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 592