Chapter 153: Perceiving the Lightning Beads
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing the base price of 2,000 top-grade spirit stones.
With such an astronomically high starting price, there was no way he would be able to secure it with his wealth, or lack thereof.
After Wen Hua announced the commencement of the bidding, most of the people in the hall fell silent and began to look around with anticipation in their eyes. Everyone wanted to see who would ultimately lay claim to this dao pill.
"2,000!"
Finally, the brief silence was broken by someone from a booth in the southeastern corner of the third floor, and the voice sounded as if it belonged to an elderly man.
Cultivators from all of the most powerful forces on in the Black Wind Sea were gathered here for the auction, so there was no shortage of people with immense wealth at their disposal and a keen interest in this dao pill.
"2,200!"
"2,500!"
……
All of the bidders were from the third-floor booths with no exceptions.
Within no more than half a minute, seven or eight rounds of bidding had already concluded, and the price of the dao pill had been bid up to over 3,000 top-grade spirit stones.
"4,000!"
A female voice suddenly rang out, and once again, it was from one of the booths on the third floor. Everyone looked on in astonishment as the flurry of bids drew to a temporary halt.
The entire auction venue had fallen silent once again.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this voice, and he seemed to recall that this was the same person who had secured that piece of Phoenix Blood Fire Jade from earlier.
"4,200!" Another bid rang out from the third floor.
The female voice immediately retaliated with an astonishingly high bid. "5,000!"
Everyone else was silenced for a moment by this extraordinary bid, only to erupt into a raucous frenzy, and everyone focused their gaze on that booth, trying to see what the person inside looked like.
"5,000 top-grade spirit stones going once! 5,000 spirit stones going twice! If anyone's still interested, you better place your bids now! If you miss this opportunity, another one may not arise even in the next 1,000 years! And... Sold for 5,000 top-grade spirit stones! Congratulations to this fellow daoist!"
With that declaration, the dao pill was sold to the mysterious cultivator on the third floor, and that also spelled the conclusion of the Black Wind Sea's centenary auction.
Wen Hua thanked everyone for coming, then declared the conclusion of the auction.
Han Li was mixed in the crowd as he slowly made his way out of the palace.
Everyone around him was still spiritedly discussing everything they had seen during the auction, particularly that dao pill at the end, which was undoubtedly going to be talked about for a long time to come.
Looking at the excitement on the faces of the people around him, Han Li developed a better idea of just how rare and precious dao pills were.
Upon returning to his temporary cave abode, Han Li immediately activated all of the restrictions inside before making his way into the secret chamber.
After taking a seat in the secret chamber, he flipped a hand over to summon the three Heavy Water Lightning Bead, then picked up one of them between his thumb and index finger for a close examination.
The bead was completely unremarkable in appearance and only around the size of a longan. There were wisps of black mist that lingered perpetually over its surface, and it wasn't giving off any special aura at all, making it appear quite innocuous.
However, given how much people had been willing to bid for the beads during the auction, he was confident that the power contained within them had to be far more potent than he could imagine.
Of course, he hadn't paid such a steep price for the beads just for their destructive power. Instead, he wanted to see if he could study them to find new ways to utilize heavy water.
After all, even though he was able to use heavy water, if he didn't know how to wield it, then it wouldn't even be as powerful as an ordinary spirit treasure in his hands.
He placed the bead onto palm, then closed his fingers over it, carefully massaging it to feel the patterns on its surface.
Only after a long while did he open his hand again, and a peculiar look had appeared on his face.
The material of the Heavy Water Lightning Bead was identical to the heavy water refined by his Earthly Deity Avatar, and he was able to feel some tiny marks on its surface that were as thin as human hairs, connecting together to form a series of strange patterns.
Even with his wealth of knowledge and experience, he wasn't able to make heads or tails of the patterns.
After a moment of contemplation, he closed his eyes, and a translucent thread shot out of his glabella, entering the black mist before venturing into the bead.
It was as if there were an entire world contained within the bead, and initially, all he could see was inky darkness. However, upon closer inspection, he spotted specks of black light, as well as wisps of azure and purple lightning that were flashing incessantly.
At the same time, he could feel the traces of law powers within the bead.
These three types of power were combined together to create a very harmonious equilibrium, and they were all connected while also keeping one another in check, like a ferocious tiger that was biding its time, waiting to be let loose from its cage so that it could unleash its wrath.
Close to two hours passed by, and Han Li finally reopened his eyes.
He shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh, then stowed the three Heavy Water Lightning Beads away before exiting the cave abode. After that, he flew in a certain direction as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
……
In a completely uninhabited area of the sea tens of thousands of kilometers away from Black Wind Island.
A streak of azure light arrived in a flash, then faded to reveal Han Li.
He released his spiritual sense to encompass the entire surrounding region in a radius of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye, carefully inspecting his surroundings.
Only after ensuring that there were no other cultivators in the area did he flip a hand over to produce one of the Heavy Water Lightning Beads.
Azure light flashed over his palm, and a wisp of immortal spiritual power was injected into the bead.
The surface of the bead immediately lit up with crimson light, and all of the spirit patterns engraved upon it also flashed momentarily before dimming again.
Han Li casually tossed the bead forward, and it shot forth rapidly through the air, giving off no aura fluctuations as it traveled tens of thousands of feet in the blink of an eye.
A thunderous boom rang out as the Heavy Water Lightning Bead exploded, and a mountainous ball of black light appeared with hundreds of bolts of azure and purple lightning that were over 1,000 feet in length surging through the air in all directions. They resembled whips of a lightning god, flashing through the surrounding space while giving off formidable law fluctuations.
The space that was struck by the bolts of lightning immediately began to warp and shudder violently, looking as if it were about to be torn apart.
Meanwhile, a giant crater had appeared on the surface of the sea beneath the vast ball of black light, and all of the fish and sea beasts within the crater were instantly destroyed.
In the next instant, the ball of black light also exploded into vast expanses of black radiance that swept forth in all directions.
Han Li had already conjured up his True Extreme Film, and blue light was flashing in his eyes as he carefully observed every single detail that arose following the explosion of the lightning bead.
The waves of black light reached him in the blink of an eye, and his pupils contracted drastically as he shot back in retreat, but it was already too late, and he wasn't able to fly very far at all before the black light caught up to him.
A sound akin to that of pitter-pattering rain falling on a banana leaf rang out, and there were countless hair-thin black needles within the black light, striking against his True Extreme Film.
The True Extreme Film flashed erratically as countless white spots appeared on its surface, and only after a long while did it return to a stable state.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this. Thankfully, the True Extreme Film was able to withstand the assault. Otherwise, he would've most likely already had countless tiny holes punched into his body at this point.
All of those black needles had been formed by heavy water, granting them extraordinary penetrative power, and even his body most likely wouldn't have been able to keep them at bay without any additional defenses.
The sea down below churned violently, and an enormous crater with a radius of close to 10,000 feet appeared on its surface.
Han Li spread his spiritual sense through the area, and a stunned look appeared on his face as he discovered that everything with a radius of close to 10 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion had been pierced by the heavy water needles, killing all of the sea beasts in the area.
Given how fearsome these black needles were, Han Li imagined that even he would've sustained severe injuries had he been situated at the epicenter of the explosion.
After witnessing all of this, Han Li finally understood why the beads had triggered such a fierce bidding war during the auction.
Only after several more seconds had passed did the residual effects of the explosion begin to subside.
Han Li made sure that the aura of law powers in the air had completely faded before flying back to the epicenter of the explosion, where there was still a charred smell lingering in the air.
At this point, the crater on the surface of the sea down below had already been refilled by seawater, but there were still some unnatural wave formations in the aftermath of the explosion.
Given the price that Han Li had paid for these Heavy Water Lightning Beads, he had essentially just detonated 500 top-grade spirit stones, and if any other auction-goers had been present, they would've been stunned by such an astonishing waste.
However, Han Li was completely unfazed, and his head was slightly bowed as he contemplated what he had just seen in silence.
Only after a long while of contemplation did he murmur to himself, "It seems like the power of laws were used to forcibly seal the power of lightning into heavy water, and an injection of immortal spiritual power would be required to unleash this power. However..."
It seemed that there was something that he was unable to wrap his head around, and his voice trailed off into silence as he fell into deep thought.
Judging from the process through which the Heavy Water Lightning Bead had released its power and the final outcome, there was no way that it would've been capable of unleashing such devastating power if it had only released the power of laws and lightning stored within.
Han Li closed his eyes as he carefully replayed what he had just seen in his mind over and over again, and all of a sudden, he was struck by a flash of enlightenment.
In the instant that the Heavy Water Lightning Bead released its power, all of the spirit pattern restrictions engraved upon its surface had been activated, causing the lightning to disperse the heavy water, transforming it into countless tiny blasts of heavy water that contained the power of laws.
Anything within the area would be like a foreign object that disrupted the fragile equilibrium, causing it to be simultaneously attacked by the heavy water, the lightning, and the power of laws, which was a formidable combination that even the average True Immortal wouldn't have been able to withstand.
Even though Han Li had managed to develop a rough idea of how these beads worked, he was still left feeling rather dismayed.
In order to prevent his magic power from being contaminated by the power of faith, he had refrained from accepting the power of laws derived by his Earthly Deity Avatar, so it was impossible for him to replicate the refinement of these Heavy Water Lightning Beads.
However, this hadn't been a completely fruitless experiment. At the very least, through his observations, he had received a great deal of inspiration on how he could utilize his heavy water.
After lingering in the area for a moment longer, Han Li rose up into the air before flying into the distance.
After flying for a few hundred kilometers, he began to descend toward a nearby small coral island that was only several kilometers in radius.
Upon landing on the island, he flipped ah and over to produce the True Water Pouch was filled with heavy water.
Over the course of the past three years, he had been maturing the Soulbirth Flower with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial while also intermittently refining crystals that contained the laws of time, helping his Earthly Deity Avatar derive more heavy water.
At this point, he had already accumulated enough heavy water to fill most of a small stream.
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