Chapter 1912: The Devil Sealing Lock and Che Qigong
"That sounds very fair. Go ahead then, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied after a brief moment of contemplation.
The elderly man was elated to hear this, and he immediately asked the most pressing question in his mind. "Alright, the first thing I want to know is who you obtained this Devil Sealing Lock from."
Han Li had anticipated this question, and he immediately replied, "I obtained it from a few devilish lords."
"Devilish lords? Could they be subordinates to Xue Guang? Why would he have handed down this treasure to his subordinates?" the elderly man murmured to himself in a contemplative manner.
Han Li continued, "I've already answered one of your questions; would you be able to tell me your name now?"
"My name is Che Qigong. How did a human like you encounter devilish lords? Are you in our sacred realm right now?" the elderly man replied before asking another question.
"Che Qigong? Hmm, I've never heard of that name before. It's currently the time when your Elder Devil Realm overlaps with our Spirit Realm, and that's how I encountered those devilish lords," Han Li replied.
"What? The sacred sacrifice is taking place right now? I can't believe I've already been trapped in here for so many years! How long has it been since the sacred sacrifice began? If it only commenced not long ago, then Xue Guang wouldn't be able to descend into the Spirit Realm yet; could that be why he entrusted this Devil Sealing Lock to his subordinates?" The elderly man's brows furrowed tightly as he spoke.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing the term "sacred sacrifice", and he said, "I think it's my turn to ask a question now."
A hint of fury reappeared on the elderly man's face, but he quickly repressed it, and said, "Alright, go ahead."
"My next question is very simple; I want to know if you're one of the Sacred Ancestors of the Elder Devil Realm," Han Li said in a solemn manner.
"Why waste a question like this if you've already guessed the answer? Not only am I a Sacred Ancestor, I'm one of the eldest Sacred Ancestors in our sacred realm! Even in the entire sacred realm, there are only a few beings as old as I am," the elderly man said in a cold voice.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before chuckling, "I see, apologies for my rudeness earlier, then."
Judging from the elderly man's haughty demeanor and the astonishing abilities he had displayed, Han Li wasn't all that surprised to hear this.
"What are you laughing at? Do you find it funny that an esteemed Sacred Ancestor such as myself has been trapped in this place?" Che Qigong asked as a hint of rage flashed through his eyes.
"Not at all! Your powers are far superior to mine, so I'm certainly in no place to be laughing at you," Han Li replied in a calm voice as his smile faded. However, he had made a mental note to himself to tread with caution as the elderly man's mood seemed to be extremely volatile and unpredictable.
"You still seem to be very calm even after learning that I'm a Sacred Ancestor; are you under the impression that I won't devour this wisp of spiritual sense of yours?" Che Qigong threatened.
"If you wanted to do that, you would've done so long ago." Han Li remained completely unfazed.
Che Qigong calmed down slightly, and harrumphed, "Hmph, you're quite a smart man. If it weren't for the fact that I'm trapped in here, I would've killed a mere human cultivator like you on sight! Alright, answer my previous question now; are the Sacred Ancestors able to descend into the Spirit Realm yet?"
"The devilish tribulation only commenced not long ago, so it's still impossible for the Sacred Ancestors to descend into the Spirit Realm," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.
"I see." A hint of excitement flashed through Che Qigong's eyes upon hearing this, but he then fell into deep thought again, seemingly contemplating an important matter.
After a brief silence, Han Li asked his next question. "Would you be able to disclose to me the functions of this Devil Sealing Lock?"
The elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this before turning to Han Li with a disdainful look in his eyes. "There's no way a human like you would be able to use the Devil Sealing Lock, so you won't benefit from this information."
"I'll be the one to decide whether this information will be useful to me or not," Han Li insisted.
"Alright, if you really want to know, then there's no harm in telling you. This Devil Sealing Lock is actually an incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure that contains Chaotic Yin Yang Qi. Not only does it have its very own independent space, there are also 13 layers of ancient restrictions that have been cast onto the treasure by the top-grade formation masters of our sacred realm. Once someone is trapped in this treasure, they'll only be able to escape if they possess the ability to dispel Chaotic Yin Yang Qi on their own. Otherwise, even if someone were to remove the 13 restrictions from the outside, it still wouldn't do anything. In its complete form, this Profound Heavenly Treasure would even be able to trap a true immortal unless they just so happen to possess an ability that can counter this treasure. Even in its current form, it's still more than enough to trap a Sacred Ancestor like me," the elderly man said in a cold voice.
"An incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure?" Han Li's calm facade immediately cracked upon hearing this.
He possessed a Profound Heavenly Treasure himself, so he was naturally well aware of just how powerful these treasures were. Even though this was only an incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure, it was still an extremely tempting prospect to him.
"Hehe, unfortunately, this Devil Sealing Lock was created in our sacred realm, so only the Sacred Ancestors of our sacred race who are able to draw upon the power of laws of heaven and earth are able to make use of it. Even if an outsider like you were to obtain the treasure, it would serve no purpose. I just so happened to have recently broken into this restriction, and I managed to stop your spiritual sense from delving deeper into the box. Otherwise, if your spiritual sense clone had reached the space within the box, it would've been instantly destroyed by the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi in there," Che Qigong said in an indifferent manner.
"I see, so only those who can draw upon the powers of heaven and earth of the Elder Devil Realm can make use of such a treasure," Han Li murmured to himself in a contemplative manner.
"I suggest you don't get any funny ideas. I can see that you're using a cultivation art of our sacred race and can control some true devilish Qi, but unless you can hone your mastery of this cultivation art to the Sacred Ancestor level, there's no way you'll be able to draw upon the powers of heaven and earth of our sacred realm. If you really do manage to master that devilish art to such a degree, then you'll be renounced by the Spirit Realm and forced to ascend to our sacred realm," Che Qigong cautioned in a meaningful voice.
Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, and after a long while, he finally sighed, "In that case, this item appears to be completely useless to me."
"That's right. That's why I told you it wouldn't benefit you to learn the functions of this treasure. On top of that, due to its incomplete nature, this treasure is bound by a severe limitation that makes it very difficult even for sacred ancestors like us to use," the elderly man said with a mysterious smile.
"What's the limitation?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Haha, I'm not going to tell you," Che Qigong chortled.
Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this. After a brief silence, the elderly man continued, "There's one more thing that I want to ask you; I hope you can answer me truthfully. Do you know if there are any places with Yin Yang Infernal Ponds or Earthly Hellish Flames in the nearby area?"
Instead of answering the question right away, a cautious look appeared on Han Li's face, and he asked, "Yin Yang Infernal Ponds or Earthly Hellish Flames? Why do you ask?"
"You sure have a lot of questions! You haven't even answered my questions yet," Che Qigong said in a cold voice as his expression darkened slightly.
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br /> "In that case, this will count as my question," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
The fury in the eyes of the elderly man became even more pronounced upon hearing this, and palpable spiritual pressure began to erupt from his body.
However, Han Li remained completely unfazed as he reminded, "You can do whatever you like to me; I'm just an insignificant clone."
"Hmph, you wouldn't dare to be this cocky if your true body were here!" Che Qigong harrumphed coldly as he forcibly repressed his own rage again.
After a brief hesitation, he explained in a resigned manner, "Those are the two types of places where the Devil Sealing Lock can be refined again. After placing this treasure into one of those places, a secret technique of our sacred race can be used to refine the treasure and extract some of the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi within it. This Chaotic Yin Yang Qi is extremely useful to Sacred Ancestors like us both for tool refinement, as well as to enhance our own powers. Due to the fact that the sacred realm is filled entirely with devilish Qi, those two types of places can only be found in the Spirit Realm. Otherwise, Xue Guang definitely wouldn't have entrusted this Devil Sealing Lock to his subordinates, and it certainly wouldn't have fallen into the hands of a human cultivator like you."
"Chaotic Yin Yang Qi can be extracted from the Devil Sealing Lock when it's put into one of those two types of places? Is that true?" Han Li was very surprised to hear this.
There were some records of Chaotic Yin Yang Qi in some ancient tomes, and those records all proclaimed that Chaotic Yin Yang Qi possessed countless types of incredible functions.
"Why would I lie to you about something like this? You were able to manifest a spiritual sense clone, so I presume you're a Body Integration cultivator. If you can absorb even a tiny wisp of Chaotic Yin Yang Qi, there's a chance that you could progress to the Grand Ascension Stage in the future! Even in the worst-case scenario, it should at least allow you to make an immediate breakthrough. If you use the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi to refine a treasure instead, then even the most ordinary of treasures could be transformed into a powerful Divine Spirit Treasure!" Che Qigong said.
Chapter 1913: Chaotic Yin Yang Qi
"From the sound of it, this Xue Guang must also be a Sacred Ancestor. If the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi is that important, then why did he entrust the treasure to someone else? Why didn't he wait until he could descend into the Spirit Realm so he could extract the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi himself?" Han Li asked in a skeptical manner.
"I've been trapped in here for countless years, so I don't know what his exact reasons could be. Perhaps the other Sacred Ancestors are already suspecting him and have sent spies to monitor him, so he doesn't dare to carry out this task in person. Alternatively, perhaps he's encountered some trouble in the sacred realm and can't descend into the Spirit Realm at all. Sacred Ancestors are able to send clones into this realm, but there are very few of them who can descend into this realm with their true body and not have to fear being rejected by this realm. Xue Guang doesn't rank very high among the Sacred Ancestors, so perhaps he's simply restricted by a lack of power. By the way, you came into possession of this Devil Sealing Lock, so you must've killed the devilish lords that you mentioned earlier; tell me about their abilities, and I'll see if I have any recollection of them," Che Qigong prompted.
Han Li thought about this for a moment before deciding that this information wasn't of any consequence, so he replied truthfully, "That does indeed sound rather plausible. Among the devilish lords I encountered, one of them had extraordinary strength and a physical body that seemed to be no less powerful than that of a Sacred Ancestor. As for his two companions, one could directly summon Heavenly Ghosts, while the other was adept in using Hierarchical True Devils..."
"I've only heard of one of those three, and he wasn't all that renowned back when I was first sealed into this treasure. However, he was already a subordinate of Xue Guang's at the time, so it seems that he really did entrust this Devil Sealing Lock to his subordinates."
"In that case, the leader of the devilish army that descended into this area is most likely this Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang," Han Li mused.
"Indeed. Unless all of my prior speculation was incorrect, that must be the case. You still haven't answered my original question yet; are there any places with Yin Yang Infernal Ponds or Earthly Hellish Flames nearby?" Che Qigong asked again in a serious voice.
"There's a valley around two month's travel away from here that contains Earthly Hellish Flames. This flame can only be used to refine some Yin flame treasures, so even though it's very rare, us human cultivators don't really pay it much heed," Han Li replied in a slow voice.
"My theories are virtually all but confirmed, then. Xue Guang must've sent his three subordinates to this place to try and extract some Chaotic Yin Yang Qi from this Devil Sealing Lock, only for it to be taken by you!" Che Qigong guffawed, clearly taking a lot of pleasure in Xue Guang's misfortune.
In contrast, a contemplative expression had reappeared on Han Li's face.
"You seem to be interested in the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi as well," Che Qigong observed in a cold voice as his mirth subsided.
"It would be very pretentious of me to say that I'm not interested in such an incredible treasure. However, how do I know you're not lying to me?" Han Li asked in a calm manner.
"Hehe, how would I benefit from lying to you? I've been trapped in this treasure for countless years, and I've broken through to the last three layers of the 13 restrictions placed on the treasure; if the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi in this Devil Sealing Lock can be drawn out, perhaps I'll be able to free myself someday. Of course, I won't allow a human cultivator like you to reap such an outrageous reward for nothing; if you want me to tell you the refinement method for this Devil Sealing Lock, then you'll have to promise me a few things first," Che Qigong said in a nonchalant manner.
"Are you trying to make a deal with me?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"I am. Are you not interested in the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi?" A cold smile appeared on Che Qigong's face.
"Of course I am, but I plan to consider this matter in greater detail before I decide whether to strike up a deal with you." A peculiar light suddenly flashed through Han Li's eyes as he spoke, following which he abruptly disintegrated into specks of golden light.
Che Qigong's expression darkened significantly upon seeing this, and only after a long while did he murmur to himself, "He withdrew his spiritual sense from this place; is he really not interested in the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi at all? If he's unwilling to make a deal with me, then who knows when I'll next encounter someone that can help me escape from this place?"
Che Qigong stood on the spot and looked into the distance with a dark expression.
Meanwhile, specks of golden light drifted out of the white wooden box that was suspended in mid-air in the secret chamber on the top floor of the pavilion that Han Li was situated in. The specks of golden light quickly vanished into the golden Nascent Soul above Han Li's physical body, following which the five-colored eyeballs in the surrounding area all imploded amid a string of dull thumps.
The golden Nascent Soul made a hand seal, and it flew into Han Li's physical body as a streak of golden light, upon which a long sigh rang out.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes before staring at the wooden box in silence with a cautious look in his eyes.
"Chaotic Yin Yang Qi and Devil Sealing Lock, eh? Who would've thought that I would stumble upon such an incredible treasure. Having said that, nothing is free in life; this Chaotic Yin Yang Qi will indeed be extremely useful to me, but I have to consider the situation carefully first!" Han Li murmured to himself as he made a grabbing motion to draw the wooden box into his grasp.
As he stroked the box, he fell into deep thought. All of a sudden, a certain thought occurred to him, and his expression changed slightly as he rose to his feet before pacing around the secret chamber.
"If this item is that important, then who's to say that Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang
wouldn't have placed some kind of tracking mark on it? I'm sure he wouldn't be willing to lose such a treasure. This could be a little troublesome."
Despite the concern in his voice, there wasn't any panic or fear in his eyes.
Of course, this was because the Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang in the Spirit realm was only a clone. If Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang had descended into the Spirit Realm in his full glory, then Han Li would immediately be fleeing the scene.
He was quite confident in his own abilities, but he definitely wasn't deluded enough to think that he could oppose a Grand Ascension Stage being such as a Sacred Ancestor.
Of course, if he could make another breakthrough and reach the late-Body Integration Stage, he should at least be able to ensure self-preservation even against a Sacred Ancestor.
After pacing around for about 10 minutes, a decisive look finally appeared in Han Li's eyes.
He immediately tossed the wooden box into the air, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a dozen or so golden and silver talismans, which adhered themselves to the box in a flash.
After that, he began to chant something while flicking his fingers incessantly toward the box, casting a torrent of incantations seals that transformed into streaks of light, which instantly encompassed all of the golden and silver talismans.
Light flashed from the surfaces of these talismans, and they blurred before transforming into golden and silver runes of different sizes before being drawn into the wooden box.
Han Li's chanting ceased upon seeing this, but he continued to make different hand seals, and a string of dull thunderclaps suddenly erupted from his body.
Golden lightning flashed from his fingertips, and a series of thin arcs of lightning sprang forth, then instantly intertwined to form a golden lightning net that descended toward the wooden box.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1105