The monk pulled out a shimmering green wooden knocker from his sleeve with a calm expression as he said, "We've been acquaintances for over a century so I don't want to become your enemy, either, but I must do this for self-preservations. I wouldn't want to see you kill Fellow Daoist Han before silencing me as well. The Divine Spirit Treasure is no laughing matter. I gather that you never planned to let me go from the start, right? I'm merely an itinerant cultivator so I can't compare to the likes of Madam Long."
"What do you mean by that, Mo Jiu?" the old woman asked coldly upon hearing that.
"Don't try to play me for a fool, Madam Long! Other people may not be aware of this, but I know for a fact that your Green Willow Sect is actually just a branch of the North Night Palace's Outer Sect. You're also one of the elders of the North Night Palace's Outer Sect, isn't that right, Madam Long?" the monk interrogated with a grace expression.
Master Arctic Dragon hesitated momentarily before finally deciding to admit to the truth. "I didn't think you would be aware of this. Elder Long, there's no need to keep up pretenses any longer; let's bring them down together!"
"Hehe, I was thinking that I would be able to sit this one out, but looks like I won't be able to, after all. However, you didn't tell me about the Heavenvoid Cauldron in advance, Grand Elder. Are you keeping secrets even from an Outer Sect elder like me now?" A dark expression appeared on the old woman's face as a staff that was roughly 10 feet long appeared in her hand amid a burst of yellow light.
"I was only keeping this a secret as a precautionary measure. In any case, let's take care of these two and recover the cauldron first. The cauldron is an extremely powerful treasure that will ensure our palace is powerful enough to combat any enemies who dare to challenge us," Master Arctic Dragon urged.
"Leave Mo Jiu to me. You three take care of that Han brat and take the Heavenvoid Cauldron from him." The old woman was still rather displeased, but she still decided to comply.
"Alright, let's do that." Master Arctic Dragon didn't hesitate any longer. He flipped his hand over to produce a blue formation plate while quickly making a series of seals with his other hand.
"He's going to cast a restriction! Stop him!" The monk's expression changed drastically upon seeing what Master Arctic Dragon was doing. He immediately hurled his wooden knocker as he spoke, and it hurtled toward Master Arctic Dragon as a ball of green light.
The gentle sound of wood knocking on wood could then be heard.
The sound made the listener's focus waver slightly, making them feel as if their souls were escaping from their bodies.
However, all of the cultivators present were extremely powerful and the old woman came to her senses before even a second knocking sound had been emitted by the wooden knocker. She harrumphed coldly and pointed her staff at the wooden knocker, sending a massive burst of yellow sword Qi hurtling toward it.
As a result, the monk was forced to relinquish his soundwave attacks as he hurriedly injected his magic power into the wooden knocker. The treasure spun in the air before swelling drastically to around 10 feet in size, hurtling toward the sword Qi like a massive rock. An explosive sound erupted as the wooden knocker and the sword projection clashed.
Meanwhile, Master Arctic Dragon was still making hand seals without pause and his formation disk was beginning to radiate piercing spiritual light.
However, Han Li was not about to let Master Arctic Dragon unleash his restriction as he pleased. He raised a hand and flicked his five fingers in quick successions, upon which around a dozen bursts of azure sword Qi shot forth from his fingertips, all of which were aimed directly at Master Arctic Dragon.
Han Li's azure essence sword Qi transformed into around a dozen azure streaks of light, but were abruptly cut off by several streaks of white sword Qi as well as two black streaks of light, upon which a heated battle ensued.
The ones who had cut off Han Li's attack were none other than Bai Mengxin and the green-robed man.
Han Li's sword Qi was almost all shattered in an instant, and his brows furrowed upon seeing that. He turned his attention away from Master Arctic Dragon and sent several tens of golden flying swords flying out from his sleeve. Those swords subsequently transformed into a barrier of golden light which shielded him as he looked on at Master Arctic Dragon with a cold expression.
A loud rumbling suddenly erupted from down below and Han Li's expression faltered slightly. However, spiritual light then immediately erupted around his body as he rose into the air from the pillar of light upon which he had been standing.
Right at this moment, the purple pillar of light down below disappeared, but was replaced by a shimmering circular formation diagram.
Han Li was suddenly struck by a powerful suction force from down below, which made his body plummet as if it had been injected full of lead. At the same time, flashes of light erupted around him as peculiar fluctuations radiated through the air.
Before he had a chance to do anything, the surrounding scenery suddenly transformed. He found himself standing in mid-air amid a vast expanse of wind and snow.
Countless snowflakes were falling from the sky while the ground below was pristine white. He had somehow appeared in a glacial land.
"An illusion technique! How interesting!"
As soon as Han Li landed on the ground below, he began to chuckle to himself, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of a smile on his face.
At this moment, the effect of the restriction on his body intensified slightly. If it weren't for the fact that he had cultivated the Brightjade Arts, his body really would be struggling to cope with his current situation. Compared to the gravitational force of the Goldweight Spirit Wood, this restriction was nothing.
The golden swords around Han Li circled through the air at his behest and the gravitational force weighing down upon him was instantly severed.
He began to rise into the air within a ball of golden light.
Han Li surveyed his surroundings blue light shimmering within his narrowed eyes.
Everything in sight was a vast expanse of white. There appeared to be no other living person around.
He then looked up into the sky to find that there seemed to be no end to the huge snowflakes falling from above.
All of a sudden, a burst of blue light erupted from his eyes and he let loose a low cry as around a dozen streaks of golden light shot forth from the golden ball around him, all of which were flying toward what appeared to be empty space.
A string of explosions erupted in the air above, following which intertwining white and golden light began to shimmer as a dozen or so small swords emerged.
Those flying swords were only several inches in length, but each and every one of them was extremely translucent, thereby allowing them to camouflage themselves within the wind and snow as they silent hurtled toward Han Li.
However, they were still discovered in the end and Han Li was able to easily keep them at bay.
"Huh?" The surprised voice of Bai Mengxin sounded from an indeterminate location.
Those flying swords whizzed around before disappearing into the wind and snow again.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he made a hand seal, upon a dozen or so more golden swords flew out from around him, all of which shimmering with golden light and exuding bone-chilling glacial Qi.
Those swords circled through the air and quickly tracked down the translucent flying swords again as the sound of clashing swords ensued.
Golden light erupted from the golden swords at Han Li's behest, and a sharp gleam appeared in his eyes as he began to utter a strange chant.
A muffled groan sounded from somewhere within the wind and snow, following which a ball of white light erupted several hundred feet away. A white-robed woman was then revealed, with her hands grasping at her head and a painful expression on her face.
She was none other than Bai Mengxin, who had been struck by Han Li's Spirit Stun Thorn!
Chapter 1105: Intense Battle In the Cave
/> The woman's spiritual sense was disrupted and as a result, her flying swords, which were previously on par with Han Li's flying swords, grew significantly weaker.
Han Li abruptly injected more energy into his sword upon seeing that as the dozen or so Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords began to exude golden light in unison, while circling around the sluggish ice swords.
A loud cracking sound erupted as almost half of the ice swords were snapped in half by the golden flying swords.
The remaining few ice swords also dimmed significantly and began to emit an insistent anguished screech, seemingly as if they had been severely damaged.
The woman in white had just regained her senses and was stunned to see her magic treasures being destroyed. She threw up several mouthfuls of blood essence from the backlash, but had no time to pay any heed to her own condition as she hurriedly summoned all of the remaining flying swords back to herself.
Otherwise, if all of the flying swords were destroyed, she would sustain far more severe injuries.
However, Han Li had already sprung into action. He wasn't going to allow her to simply withdraw her swords without an impediment.
He quickly raised his hand and pointed toward the flying swords in the distance. As a result, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately began to pursue the fleeing ice swords. At the same time, the flying swords without any opponents flew through the air at an extremely fearsome speed, circling around to in front of the ice swords. Thus, the remaining ice swords were sandwiched between the swarms of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Han Li activated his sword art again and just when he was preparing to completely destroy the ice swords with his own flying swords, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted from overhead.
"Don't you dare!"
Two streaks of black light then flashed through the air as two fierce black wyrms emerged from the snowflakes overhead. Each of the wyrms was around 70 to 80 feet in length and were extremely ferocious.
Han Li's expression remained calm, as if he had already predicted this attack in advance. He continued to activate his sword art with one hand while suddenly raising his other hand, producing a shiny red scroll in the process.
A burst of spiritual light erupted as the treasure was unfurled.
A clear cry rang out from within the scroll as over 100 ancient runes that were golden and silver in color flew forth from within. As soon as those ancient runes emerged, they swelled drastically in size before transforming into countless balls of light as they met the oncoming the black wyrms.
The two wyrms didn't hold back either as they blasted streaks of black light from their mouths relentlessly and dove into the swarm of ancient runes.
Loud booms rang out incessantly as golden and silver light erupted on the wyrms' bodies. Not only did they shatter the black light on the bodies of wyrms, they even managed to send the two wyrms tumbling through the air.
Each and every one of those gold and silver runes possessed devastating power and the two wyrms were unable to withstand such a fearsome bombardment, thereby forcing them to revert back to their true form, which was a pair of short black halberds.
Han Li was elated upon seeing this and instantly injected even more magic power into his scroll.
The red scroll abruptly fluttered as more ancient runes emerged from within, encompassing a vast expanse of space overhead before shooting forth through the air.
Black light flashed as the green-robed middle-aged man was forced to reveal himself amid the ruins with a dark expression on his face. He immediately raised a hand to summon the two short halberds back to him before flipping over his palm, upon which a small green flag abruptly appeared.
The flag was only several inches in size but as it was waved through the air, the runes on its surface instantly began to surge, summoning gusts of violent gale-force winds as the green-robed man disappeared.
As such, all of the ancient runes struck empty air. Han Li faltered upon seeing this.
On the other end, Han Li's attacks directed against Bai Mengxin had also come to no avail as she had gritted her teeth and suddenly produced a pristine white mirror.
She aimed the mirror at the streaks of golden light that were Han Li's flying swords, and she only had to brandish the mirror before a cream-colored pillar of light shot forth from its surface. The streaks of golden light were caught off guard and upon being illuminated by the pillar of light, layers of frosty ice began to appear on the swords. Most of the flying swords were thus sealed in blocks of ice.
Only then did the remaining few ice swords manage to escape and were instantly absorbed into Bai Mengxin's body.
Han Li turned his gaze toward her and harrumphed coldly as he pointed toward the distance several times in quick succession.
Loud thunderclaps immediately erupted from the small golden swords as thin arcs of lightning surfaced along the swords. The blocks of Profound Ice were shattered by the might of the Divine Devilbane Lightning, and the flying swords were instantly freed.
Bai Mengxin's expression changed drastically upon seeing this as she immediately turned her mirror toward Han Li.
A loud rumbling erupted behind Han Li as a pair of silver wings appeared. He merely spread and flapped the wings slightly before he disappeared amid a burst of silver light.
Bai Mengxin's faltered upon seeing this and almost at the exact same moment, a violent gust of wind swept past her. An arm abruptly reached out from within the wind, latching on her arm and dragging her within. The wind then dissipated and she completely disappeared.
In the next instant, a silver arc of light flashed as Han Li emerged where Bai Mengxin had been hovering just a moment ago.
He looked at the empty air around him and a dark expression appeared on his face as a blue light flashed through his eyes. He abruptly raised a hand and a black streak of light shot forth from within his sleeve before disappearing in a split second.
A black streak of light abruptly flashed through the air several hundred feet away, upon which a muffled groan rang out as a severed arm appeared, seemingly from thin air, followed by a stumbling green-robed figure. It was none other than the green-robed middle-aged man!
This man was clearly also quite a vicious character; even though one of his arms had been forcibly amputated, his other arm shot forth like lightning, grabbing onto the severed arm as he disappeared amid another gust of gale-force winds.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes, but he didn't manipulate the black streak of light to keep pursuing that man. Instead, he raised a hand and the black streak of light disappeared on the spot before instantly reappearing in front of Han Li, as if by teleportation. It was a dagger that was several inches in length with inky-black light shimmering along its surface. This dagger was none other than the Devil Essence Dagger that was meant to be used by the humanoid puppet.
Han Li then hovered amid the wind and snow, constantly surveying his surroundings expressionlessly. Blue light was shimmering relentlessly within his eyes, as if he were searching for something.
Outside the illusion technique, elsewhere in the formation spell, the green-robed middle-aged man was hurriedly pressing his severed arm against his wound before quickly applying several talismans. A burst of white light circulated around the wound and the arm was reattached to his body.
The gree-robed man heaved a long sigh of relief after reattaching his arm. He then turned to Bai Mengxin with a concerned look as he said, "What a peculiar treasure. It appears that Junior Martial Sister Mengyao really wasn't exaggerating; this cultivator with the Han surname really is extremely powerful. Junior Martial Sister Mengxin, are you alright?"
A heated flush appeared on Bai Mengxin's pale face, and her voice was a little hoarse as she said, "I'm fine. Even though my magic treasure was damaged, I managed to retain almost half of them, so all is not lost. However, I won't be able to summon these Profound Ice Swords in battle again. Senior Martial Brother, restrictions are completely ineffective against this man, a
nd he seems to possess an ability that allows him to see through illusion techniques! We tried to use the power of the restriction to obscure our presence, but it was completely ineffective."
Master Arctic Dragon's entire body was glowing with blue light, but the golden light in his eyes was slowly receding as he said calmly, "I saw everything that happened just then; this opponent is indeed one that is not to be taken lightly. If it weren't for the fact that the Heavenvoid Cauldron were concerned, I really wouldn't want to make such a powerful enemy. However, we've made our decision already and there's no going back. I've already dispelled the final shred of backlash from the world's origin Qi. Next, you two will only have to assist me and I'll put an end to this man's life. In my current condition, I should be able to temporarily control all of the Profound Jade’s glacial Qi in the cave, albeit with some difficulty. No matter how powerful this man is, there's no way he'll be able to withstand such a vast amount of Profound Jade’s glacial Qi."
The green-robed middle-aged man was quite surprised to hear this. "But if you do that, we won't be able to access the Profound Jade Cave for the next 1,000 years!"
Bai Mengxin's expression also changed slightly.
Master Arctic Dragon looked into the distance at Han Li, who was trapped within the restriction, with a remarkably calm expression on his face. "There's no helping it. You two have just fought him so you would have experienced his power firsthand. He's clearly extremely proficient in the art of formation spells and all of his treasures and abilities are extremely dangerous. Aside from the Heavenvoid Cauldron, he also appears to have a spirit treasure replica fan that is also very difficult to deal with. Only through summoning the power of the entire Profound Jade Cave would I have absolute confidence in killing him. In comparison with the Heavenvoid Cauldron, not being able to access the Profound Jade Cave is a small price to pay."
The green-robed man and Bai Mengxin were still a little hesitant, but they didn't speak further on the matter.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 596