His boisterous laughter echoed throughout the entire cave.
Han Li's laughter tapered off as he murmured to himself, "Fantastic! This journey was definitely not a waste of time!"
He waved his hand downward, upon which the two balls of glacial flames were drawn toward him by an invisible force.
Han Li unleashed countless thin goldens arcs of light amid the sound of rumbling thunderclaps, encapsulating those two balls of glacial flames in golden balls of thread as well before stowing them away into Profound Jade boxes.
After doing all that, Han Li released that black jade vial from his sleeve and uttered a chant to get the Unbroken Cinque Devils sealed back into the vial.
The five devils seemed to be aware of Han Li's intentions and they were trying to stall for time, clearly unwilling to return to the vial.
Han Li's expression darkened as he let loose a stern cry. He pointed a finger toward the five devils and the silver rings on their bodies immediately shuddered as azure spiritual light erupted.
The five devils had been afflicted by the might of those rings more than once and they immediately followed Han Li's command, emitting a ghostly cry as they transformed into five bursts of grey-white Qi before entering the vial.
Only then did Han Li carefully stow the vial back into his sleeve.
As for the humanoid puppet off to the side, Han Li didn't appear to have any intention of stowing it away. Instead, he pulled out a green high-grade spirit stone and slapped it onto the puppet, replacing the other spirit stone that was about to be exhausted of energy.
As long as the puppet wasn't fighting at full power, its draining effect on spirit stones was completely negligible.
His body flashed through the air and he descended gently, landing in front of a large rock amid a pile of rubble. There were some relatively large fragments of Myriad Year Glacial Jade embedded into the rock and they were shimmering with a faint white light.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he patted his storage pouch, upon which a thin and long beaker appeared in his hand.
He tapped the beaker and the lid flew off by itself. The beaker then tilted slightly and a large clump of pitch-black liquid spilled out from within, emanating bursts of grey Qi. It was completely identical to the Yin Spirit Water used by Bai Mengxin to extract the Myriad Year Glacial Jade.
This liquid was some "dark water" that Han Li had procured after unintentionally stumbling into the Umbra Realm. He had thought that this dark water appeared to be quite interesting at the time, so he brought back quite a lot with him using several containers.
During his free time thereafter, he had conducted some research on this liquid. However, he discovered that aside from the fact that they were quite viscous and cold, and cold temporarily imbue a treasure with Yin flames, he didn't discover any other use for them. As such, they had been stored in his storage pouch this entire time.
Only after entering the Profound Jade Cave and witnessing Bai Mengxin extract the Myriad Year Glacial Jade did he realize that her so-called Yin Spirit Water was completely identical to this dark water.
In the presence of Master Arctic Dragon and the others, he didn't take the risk to use his spiritual sense to assess whether those two were indeed one and the same. However, he was adamant that they were the exact same thing.
As for the name "dark water", that was simply a name that the cultivator in the Umbra Realm had given to the liquid.
Now that he was the only person left in the Profound Glacial Cave, he was naturally going to test out his theory.
Han Li pointed at the clump of black liquid and the liquid slowly flew into the air above the rock. It then shuddered slightly before a drop detached from its overall mass, disappearing into the white light below in the blink of an eye.
Sure enough, this situation was completely identical to the situation encountered by Bai Mengxin when procuring the jade. The black liquid disappeared into the Profound Jade in a flash and at the same time, a layer of grey Qi emerged.
Han Li was very pleased to see this as he flicked a finger toward the Profound Jade. All of a sudden, a small bead of azure light shot forth and struck the Profound Jade.
A faint thud was heard and the Profound Jade wobbled slightly before detaching itself from the rock, and was sucked into his hand.
He examined the Profound Jade in his hand with an intense gaze before looking around at all of the spots of white light shimmering within the cave. A faint smile gradually surfaced on his face.
With the amount of "dark water" he was carrying with him, it would naturally be impossible to extract all of the Profound Jade in the cave. However, it was definitely not a problem to extract the majority of the Profound Jade revealed on the surface of the cave.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately patted his storage pouch to produce another beaker, which he passed to the humanoid puppet beside him.
The puppet accepted the container soundlessly and its body flashed through the air several times, taking it to another location in the cave. It summoned the dark water from within the beaker while holding a storage pouch in its other hand as it began to extract Profound Jade.
Meanwhile, Han Li was doing the same thing.
Time slowly passed by and several hours later, the Profound Jade's glacial Qi in the cave had gradually become a lot thinner. Furthermore, the spots of white light that had riddled the entire cave had also dwindled significantly with less than a third of the original amount remaining.
After Han Li applied his final drop of dark water onto a fragment of Profound Jade and stowed the latter away in his storage pouch, he let loose a faint sight as he looked around with a forlorn expression.
If he had known that this dark water would have such an amazing effect, he would have definitely carried more out of the Umbra Realm with him.
Even so, the amount of Myriad Year Profound Jade that he had procured was already quite jaw-dropping. Just the Myriad Year Profound Jade fragments procured by him alone numbered in excess of 1,000. It was a pity that some of the large pieces of Profound Jade required more than one drop of Yin Spirit Water to be applied for extraction. Otherwise, he would have been able to procure even more than what he currently had.
Just as he was thinking this to himself, the humanoid puppet suddenly flashed through the air and traveled toward him. It then raised a hand and tossed its bulging storage pouch at him.
Han Li caught the pouch and used his spiritual sense to take a cursory glance at its contents.
Sure enough, there appeared to also be over 1,000 pieces of Profound Jade in there.
With so many pieces of Profound Jade in his possession, Han Li was already beginning to devise a plan. Aside from adding them to his 72 flying swords, he could use them to refine some treasures or perhaps add them into his existing treasures to enhance their powers.
However, even if Han Li were to do all that, there was no way he would be able to use up all of this Profound Jade. The majority of the Profound Jade would still remain and he was going to use its glacial Qi to refine and purify his own glacial flames.
After all, with the assistance of the Profound Jade's glacial Qi, refining his glacial flames should become a lot easier.
Han Li didn't think too deep into this matter. The train of thought only briefly surfaced in his mind before it was abandoned.
He put away the storage pouch before turning toward the Fire Raven formed from the Greatyin True Flame.
The Fire Raven had already swelled to become five to six times larger than its original size, making it roughly comparable in size to a human head. In contrast, the Qilin silhouette was completely unrecognizable, having been reduced to a thin layer of white that enveloped the Fire Raven. The Profound Jade badge had also ended up caught between the Fire Raven's beak and the latter was using the former as a toy.
Han Li faltered upon seeing this before hurriedly waving his hand through the air with a bemused expression.
The Profound Jade badge immediately extri
cated itself from between the Fire Raven's beak and landed in his hand.
Without the support of the Profound Jade bade, the remaining white Qi instantly dispersed and was about to vanish.
The Fire Raven immediately let loose a low cry upon seeing this. It spread open its wings and its entire body transformed into a ball of crimson flames, which swept toward the remaining white Qi, absorbing all of it into its own body.
After doing all that, the flames reverted back to their Fire Raven form and landed on Han Li's shoulder after circling the air with excitement. It then cocked its head to the size and used its beak to organize its fiery feathers, which had become even more exuberant in color.
Han Li turned to appraise the Fire Raven and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
The Greatyin True Flame's spiritual nature had been enhanced significantly.
He looked down at the Profound Jade badge in his hand and a thought seemed to have occurred to him as he feigned a grabbing motion with his other hand. All of a sudden, a wisp of Profound Jade's glacial Qi appeared in his hand, and the former was enveloped in a ball of Purple Apex Flames.
A blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes and he could clearly see that the glacial Qi within the purple flames was no longer in its wispy substantial stage. Instead, it had become extremely thin and insubstantial, no different from normal glacial Qi.
A sense of enlightenment welled up in Han Li's heart as he examined the Profound Jade badge again. He then clicked his tongue with wonder before stowing the treasure into his storage pouch.
After searching through the entire Profound Jade Cave and ascertaining that there was nothing else of value to be contained, he departed with the humanoid puppet and the Fire Raven.
The entrance to the cave was still tightly sealed.
Han Li looked at the mysterious runes flashing at the opening and summoned the Celestial Blue Cauldron from his sleeve. The cauldron shot forth through the air and rotated a few times before hovering in front of him, completely stationary.
If it were any other cultivator, they really would be unable to manipulate this cauldron. After all, it was quite clear that only those who had Celestial Ice Flames could control the Celestial Blue Cauldron. That was why Master Arctic Dragon had willingly given one to the monk.
However, this was not an issue for Han Li. He took an indifferent glance at the cauldron before making a hand seal, upon which the Purple Apex Flames around his body shuddered and began to change drastically in color.
In the blink of an eye, the layer of purple flames over his body had turned blue, transforming into Celestial Blue Flames.
Blue light was shimmering over his hand as he pointed at the small cauldron in front of him. A wisp of blue flames flew forth like a spirit snake and struck the cauldron with unerring accuracy.
The Celestial Blue Cauldron immediately tremored as it began to emit a ringing sound. Countless bursts of blue flames erupted from within as the cauldron began to swell drastically in size amid the blue light.
Han Li made a hand seal to urge the cauldron into growth, only stopping when it had expanded to around 30 to 40 feet in size. Han Li then made another hand seal as a low cry escaped from his mouth.
The massive cauldron immediately flew through the air, appearing as if it were going to crash through the opening of the cave.
However, Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged.
As expected, when the cauldron had reached around 30 to 40 feet away from the opening, the mysterious runes there flashed in unison as spiritual light of all types of colors radiated through the air. Those runes seemed to have been drawn to the massive cauldron as they transformed into countless streaks of light before disappearing into the blue flames around the cauldron.
A loud rumbling erupted as a rift several tens of feet in length slowly appeared in the opening.
Chapter 1114: Encountering the Demon Beasts Again
Han Li left through the gap that had opened up with the humanoid puppet and the Fire Raven before appearing above the Spirit Void Hall's altar.
He waved his hand behind him without even turning around and the Celestial Blue Cauldron flew toward him, quickly shrinking once again before flying into his sleeve.
A loud burst of rumbling erupted as the Profound Jade Cave sealed over again.
Han Li turned to look around him to discover that there was no one in the general vicinity, identical to the situation when he had entered the Profound Jade Cave.
He heaved a faint sigh of relief but his brows then furrowed at the sight of the tall ice pillars on the altar before him. This Frigid Soulfreeze Formation was going to be quite troublesome to deal with!
The glacial Qi within the formation wasn't going to pose much of a threat to him but even so, breaking the formation would not be an easy task. After all, this formation wasn't some kind of temporary formation; it was an ancient spell formation in all its glory without any of its power blunted or discounted in any way.
Furthermore, what Han Li was more concerned about was not this formation, but instead how to open the gate of the Spirit Void Hall.
Back when he had first come in, Master Arctic Dragon had told him that opening the gate from the inside would be a simple task. However, it was quite clear now that his words had been deceitful in nature. Even if it were indeed a simple task to open the gate from the inside, a special Celestial Technique would most likely be required.
With that in mind, Han Li didn't immediately tackle the Frigid Soulfreeze Formation. Instead, he patted his storage pouch and a stack of formation banners radiating all different colors of spiritual light appeared in his hands.
He hurled the banners downward and they disappeared in a flash, vanishing into a certain spot on the altar. A ball of white mist then emerged from that spot, encompassing a radius of over 100 feet.
Han Li flipped over his palm upon seeing this to produce the vial treasure within which Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul was sealed.
After contemplating what he was going to do next, he decided to use a soul search technique on the Nascent Soul first to extract more information about the Spirit Void Hall, in order to prevent falling into some type of predicament due to his lack of knowledge. Of course, he was also going to search for information regarding the Puresun Flame Essence. Thus, Han Li slowly descended with the vial in his hand.
His body disappeared into the mist in the blink of an eye and the entire Spirit Void Hall fell silent, with only the mist in the formation tumbling incessantly.
A full two hours later, the white mist in the formation suddenly shuddered violently before quickly thinning at a rate perceptible to the naked eye.
After most of the mist had vanished, Han Li's figure was revealed again, standing at the center of the formation. He wore a thoughtful expression on his face as he sat on the ground with his legs folded in front of him. His brows were tightly-furrowed as if he were pondering a difficult problem and the jade vial containing Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul sat beside him. However, the vial had been opened, yet the Nascent Soul was nowhere to be seen,
Han Li's brows finally smoothed out as he murmured to himself, "Who would have thought that the Puresun Flame Essence would be in such a place? It appears that I really shouldn't take the risk to go and find it before I reach the late-Nascent Soul stage. It's interesting that there are three entrances to the Spirit Void Hall, yet only one exit in the main hall. Looks like this Master Arctic Dragon never planned to let me leave from the beginning. If I hadn't searched his soul, I would have been in trouble."
He then rose to his feet as a vast expanse of azure light swept forth, collecting all of the formation banners as well as that empty vial.
He made a hand seal and transformed into a streak of azure light as he flew toward a certain gate.
The azure light receded and Han Li was revealed standing in front of the gate. He looked at the sealing talismans on the gate, which were clearly quite antiquated, then glanced at the Gr
eatyin Fire Raven on his shoulder.
The Fire Raven let loose a low cry and spread open its wings at his behest, sending two bursts of crimson flames hurtling through the air.
The talismans up ahead immediately ignited upon making contact with the crimson flame. At the same time, spiritual light of all types of different colors appeared.
However, those lights only flashed for a split second before instantly dimming. In the blink of an eye, all of the talismans were covered in a layer of ice.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he flicked his fingers, upon which several bursts of golden light shot forth, creating a quick succession of crisp thuds.
The layer of ice on the surface of the talismans were shattered before being reduced to nothingness. Han Li stroked his chin and casually whipped his sleeve through the air, upon which a stiff gale swept toward the stone gate.
The gate was slowly opened amid a rumbling noise. Han Li immediately strode in without any hesitation while the humanoid puppet followed close behind him.
After entering through this inconspicuous stone gate, they arrived in a large courtyard that was over 1,000 feet in width.
There was a small winding path down the center paved with white stones with beast statues of all different sizes lining the sides of the path. The statues were all snowy white and translucent , carved with exemplary craftsman to creat extremely life-like renditions of beasts they were portraying.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that all of these statues were created from Profound Jade, a discovery that caused a peculiar look to flash through his eyes. He then turned his attention away from the statues and began to walk down the path toward the gate at the path's conclusion.
In the beginning, everything was normal. However, when he reached around the middle of the path, several tens of statues beside him suddenly sprang to life, baring their fangs and claws with glacial Qi erupting from their mouths as they pounced toward Han Li.
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