Chapter 223: Mark
After leaving the Hundred Wine Cottage, Han Li returned straight to the secret chamber of his cave abode, and after activating all of the restrictions inside, he sat down on the spot with his legs crossed.
Having completed two regular elder missions in a row, he was feeling quite weary from his rigorous travels, even though neither mission had been particularly difficult to complete. Now that he had three days to rest, he could digest the immortal wines that had just consumed and also recuperate somewhat.
However, not long after he closed his eyes, he abruptly reopened them again as his expression changed ever so slightly.
The storage bracelet on his wrist had suddenly begun vibrating without any warning.
Before he had a chance to do anything, a streak of black light flashed past, and the black saber flew out on its own, then shot forth into the distance at an incredible speed like a bolt of black lightning.
Due to how abruptly all of this had unfolded, Han Li was unable to immediately stop the saber, but he was able to quickly react before making a hand seal, and layers of azure light instantly appeared within the secret chamber to prevent the saber's escape.
Dazzling black light erupted from the saber, accompanied by what sounded like an animalistic roar, and the black saber was able to slice through the layers of azure light with ease, but it was also slowed down slightly as a result.
Right at this moment, Han Li conjured up his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a flash of golden light, and golden ripples spread through the surrounding area in a radius of 100 feet, encompassing the black saber within.
As a result, the saber was slowed down once again, this time to only a third of its previous speed, immediately following which it was drawn back into Han Li's grasp by a burst of invisible suction force.
The black saber began to vibrate incessantly as it struggled to break free, but it was completely ensnared within Han Li's vice-like grip.
What's going on?
Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed upon seeing this.
Fang Pan was already dead, and during all these years in which the black saber had been in his possession, he had already carefully refined it once, so why was this happening?
With that in mind, he injected his enormous spiritual sense into the black saber, and what he saw was not a very pleasing sight.
As it turned out, the black saber had already completely escaped from his control, and there were bursts of invisible force inside that kept out his spiritual sense.
Han Li harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and translucent light flashed from his glabella as a burst of even more tremendous spiritual sense erupted forth in a frenzy, forming a semi-transparent sword projection that was around a foot in length before piercing into the black saber.
The saber projection had been conjured up by Han Li using his Sword Observation Art, and it was able to slice through the bursts of invisible force with ease.
Thus, Han Li was able to force his spiritual sense through the layers of restrictions within the black saber, and his spiritual sense quickly reached a black space that was nestled within the saber's deepest part.
The space was riddled with countless black patterns that varied in thickness, resembling countless cobwebs that formed an enormous and complex array, while a black altar stood at the center of the array.
A ball of warped black light was hovering within the altar, flashing incessantly, and the array patterns around it were also constantly flashing, as if they were resonating with the ball of black light.
Han Li was quite stunned by what he was seeing.
He had meticulously refined the black saber in the past, and his spiritual sense had reached this place before, but at the time, the array patterns here hadn't been anywhere near this complex.
This was most likely the true form of the core restriction within the black saber.
He cast his gaze toward the ball of black light, and it seemed to have detected his gaze as a rather indistinct face appeared within it before looking back at Han Li.
The features of the face were quite blurry, but its eyes were quite clear, and they were thin and long, resembling sharp blades, while giving off an enraged and arrogant gleam.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon seeing this.
The face wasn't very clear, but it definitely didn't belong to Fang Pan.
With that in mind, it immediately dawned on him that the owner of the saber wasn't Fang Pan. Instead, he had most likely borrowed it from someone else.
Even though he had meticulously refined the saber, there was no way that he could've detected these concealed restrictions planted within the saber by its original owner.
All of a sudden, Han Li realized the peril that he was in.
The owner of the saber had activated the mark within it most likely to sense its exact location so that he could recover it, and if that person were to track him down, then he would be in a world of trouble.
As soon as these thoughts sprang into Han Li's mind, he immediately conjured up a massive semi-transparent sword projection that lashed out viciously at the ball of black light.
The blurry face let loose an infuriated roar, and it transformed into a length of translucent black chain that was rather similar in appearance to an Origin Separation Law Chain before whipping itself at the sword projection.
A ferocious clash took place, and the black chain was sliced into two by the sword projection before disintegrating into countless specks of black light.
All of the array patterns inside the black space instantly fell dark, and at the same time, the black saber also ceased its struggles, while the light radiating from it faded.
It had become completely still and obedient, and only now did it appear to have been completely refined.
However, Han Li wasn't particularly elated to see this. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the black altar, within which was something that resembled a cross between a rune and a mark, and it was giving off faint spiritual light.
That's a bonded mark!
Han Li immediately conjured up another semi-transparent sword projection above the altar before sending it crashing down onto the mark.
A loud thump rang out, and the sword projection was repelled, while the bonded mark only shuddered slightly before reverting back to its original form, seemingly completely indestructible.
Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and instead of continuing to unleash more attacks, he withdrew all of his spiritual sense.
Back in the secret chamber, he looked down at the black saber in his hand with an indecisive expression.
Right as Han Li forced his spiritual sense into the black saber and attempted to erase the mark within it, there was a massive black crane that was several thousand feet in size flying through the sky countless kilometers away on the Ancient Cloud Continent.
The crane's entire body was covered in metallic black plumage, but the feathers on the top of its head were golden in color, resembling a crown. Faint black flames could be seen on the surface of its feathers, and these flames were particularly pronounced on its wings, forming two even larger fiery black wings around its actual wings.
The crane was flapping its wings rapidly as it flew at an extraordinary pace, covering a distance of several hundred kilometers with every single flap.
A burly yellow-robed man that was close to 10 feet in height was seated on the black crane's back with his legs crossed.
There were over 100 yellow array flags hovering in the air around him, and they were all giving off bursts of yellow light to form an array that was several hundred feet in size, which was fluctuating in brightness as it slowly revolved on the spot.
He made a hand seal, and countless yellow runes surged out of hands, then circled around momentarily in the air before flowing into the surrounding array, and it seemed that he was unleashing some type of secret technique.
All of a sudden, the yellow array shuddered violently before exploding, and all of the array flags were sent flying in all directions.
The yellow-robed man's face paled slightly, and he opened his eyes as he cursed, "Damn it!"
With a sweep of his sleeve, all of the scattered array flags converged back together before flying into his head, vanishing without a trace.
"Were you able to track him down, Master?" the giant black crane asked in a sharp and piercing voice.
"I almost managed to do it. Having said that, I've determined the rough direction that he's in. What a useless piece of trash that Fang Pan was. Not only did he end up dead, he lost my Black Emperor Immortal Slaying Blade as well!" the yellow-robed man grumbled.
"Fang Pan was nothing more than a fool with mediocre aptitude, how could he possibly compare with you?" the giant crane remarked with a hint of derision in its voice.
"In any case, the Black Emperor Immortal Slaying Blade is my bonded immortal treasure, and I can't afford to lose it. If I had known this would happen, I would've never lent it to Fang Pan," the yellow-robed man grumbled with a frustrated expression.
"Speaking of which, that Han Li sure is a lucky fellow. Not only did he not die 300 years ago, he's managed to kill Fang Pan now. Having said that, now that you're going after him, it seems like his good fortune has come to an end," the black crane said in a sycophantic manner.
"I don't know what secret this Han Li is harboring that made Fang Pan so determined to hunt him down. I have to say, I'm extremely curious! I have to make sure that old fart doesn't find out. Otherwise, I won't get to claim his secrets for myself," the yellow-robed man said in a cold voice, and an enormous aura began to emanate from his body, causing his robes to bulge around him.
The nearby air began to buzz and tremble as a string of loud cracks and pops rang out.
The giant black crane couldn't help but shudder slightly in the face of the yellow-robed man's terrifying aura, and it lowered its head as it sped up a little more.
……
After staring at the black saber in his hand for a while, Han Li suddenly set it down before making a rapid string of hand seals.
Dazzling azure light instantly erupted from his hands, forming a series of large azure runes that descended onto the black saber.
A series of azure runes instantly appeared on the surface of the saber, and these runes were only increasing in number, spreading over the entire saber in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, the black saber had transformed into an azure saber that wasn't giving off even the slightest aura.
This was a treasure sealing technique that Han Li had learned in the past, and after unleashing the technique, he pulled out a long black box, which was clearly a treasure as well.
The surface of the box was flashing with spiritual light, and it was giving off a peculiar aura.
He placed the black saber into the box, then flipped a hand over to produce several talismans, all of which he also plastered onto the box.
His brows were slightly furrowed as he looked down at the black box in his hand.
Even after casting so many seals onto the saber, he still wasn't confident that its former owner would be completely unable to sense it.
Hence, as long as this saber remained by his side, there was always the risk that its former owner could track him down.
He didn't know what type of relationship Fang Pan shared with the saber's former owner, but they were both definitely enemies to him.
It seemed that the owner of the saber had to have used some type of special refinement method to have planted such a resolute seal within the saber.
By Han Li's own estimates, given his current level of power, if he wanted to completely erase the seal, then the only way to do so would be to slowly refine it using his nascent flame, and that would take him at least a century.
This was far too much time to waste on a single weapon, and he was at a slight loss for what to do.
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