Chapter 245: Entering the Valley
"We'll know if my method works or not when I test it out. You two can watch from the side, but in exchange, once we kill our target, I get to have the first pick out of all of their treasures," Qilin 17 said.
Before Han Li had a chance to say anything, Qilin 9 replied, "You seem to be very confident in your plan, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17. In that case, feel free to give it a try, but before that, we need to set up a spatial sealing array outside the array so the person inside isn't alerted to our arrival and runs away."
Han Li naturally had no objections to this, either, and after briefly discussing some further details, the three of them split up to perform their own roles.
Close to a day later, right as it was beginning to get dark, Han Li's trio met back up at the entrance of the valley.
Qilin 9 chanted an incantation, then pointed a finger at an array flag on the ground in front of him, and a layer of invisible ripples immediately surged through the air, forming a barely visible spherical light barrier that encompassed the entire nearby area in a radius of several hundred kilometers.
"Alright, the spatial sealing array has been activated. The floor is now yours, Fellow Daoist," Qilin 9 said as he turned to Qilin 17.
Qilin 17 nodded in response, then took a few steps forward until he was directly in front of the light barrier at the entrance of the valley before producing a shimmering golden talisman with a flick of his wrist.
He then raised the talisman before pressing it against his own forehead, and all of the runes on the talisman instantly lit up before flowing straight into his head.
What followed was a profound incantation, and arcs of golden lightning began to emerge all over Qilin 17's body amid a string of loud buzzing and crackling.
Immediately thereafter, his entire body abruptly blurred as he transformed into a thin arc of lightning and sped directly into the valley.
A faint pop rang out from the entrance of the valley, but that was the extent of the disturbance, and Qilin 17's was nowhere to be seen.
"It looks like this method works!" Qilin 9 remarked with an elated expression.
However, Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he looked up at the sky, and Qilin 9 hurriedly looked up as well, seemingly also having sensed that something wasn't quite right.
All of a sudden, a figure with golden lightning surging all over their body came plummeting rapidly out of the sky before slamming violently down onto the snowland with a resounding boom.
A massive crater instantly appeared on the snowland, and a vast expanse of golden lightning erupted forth from within, charring the surrounding cedar trees black.
Han Li and Qilin 9 rushed onto the scene to find Qilin 17 seated at the bottom of the crater. His entire body was charred black and releasing plumes of white smoke, giving him a rather sorry and comical appearance, but he didn't appear to have sustained any severe injuries.
"What happened, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17?" Qilin 9 asked.
"This restriction isn't the Golden Peak Lightning Array. To put it more accurately, it's not just the Golden Peak Lightning Array," Qilin 17 replied as he jumped out of the crater before flipping a hand over to produce a pill that he promptly devoured.
"I see, that makes sense," Han Li suddenly remarked.
"It sounds like you discovered something, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15," Qilin 9 said.
After a brief pause for contemplation, Han Li replied, "Back when that snow rabbit crashed into the array, I felt some hints of spatial fluctuations in the air. The way I see it, the array here is a special type of fusion array."
Qilin 17 arrived by Han Li's side, having already recovered from his injuries and changed into a set of new robes.
This time, he was no longer looking at Han Li with the same derision as before, and he asked, "So you're saying that this array is a combination of the Golden Peak Lightning Array and some type of spatial array?"
"That's right. While it's true that you managed to successfully bypass the array just now, in the instant that you entered the Golden Peak Lightning Array, you were immediately teleported back out by the spatial array inside," Han Li analyzed.
"In that case, the lightning released by the Golden Peak Lightning Array had to have been condensed by the same spatial array," Qilin 9 speculated.
"I presume that's the case. It's a good thing that Fellow Daoist Qilin 17 was fast enough to escape the brunt of the retaliation from the Golden Peak Lightning Array after he was expelled by the spatial array. Otherwise, his injuries would've most likely been far more severe," Han Li said as he took a glance at Qilin 17, and a grim look appeared on the latter's face upon hearing this.
"It seems like whoever's in this valley is doing something extremely important, and they're trying to keep out all possible distractions. Otherwise, they wouldn't have set up such a strange array here. With this array in place, not only is it difficult for outsiders to enter the valley, leaving the valley for those inside won't be a simple matter, either," Han Li mused.
After a brief silence, a cold look appeared in Qilin 9's eyes as he said, "If we can't sneak in in secret, then the only way to proceed would be to destroy the cores of the array and enter by force."
"Hold on a second, I have a method that could perhaps work," Han Li suddenly said.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Qilin 9 prompted.
"I just so happen to know a lightning array technique that combines the power of lightning with the power of space to achieve instantaneous teleportation. This array is also a fusion of the same two types of power, so as long as I can control the fluctuations of my array to the same level as those of this array, perhaps we'll be able to pass through it," Han Li explained.
"What would you say is the probability of this method succeeding?" Qilin 9 asked.
"The lightning array technique is not easy to control, so I'd say the chances of success are only around 50%," Han Li replied after some brief thought.
"Only 50%? So you're saying that there's a 50% chance that we'll come under retaliation from this lightning array?" Qilin 17 asked, clearly feeling rather hesitant.
After a moment of contemplation, Qilin 9 decided, "We'll go with Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15's method.Even if it fails, I'll keep the attacks from the lightning array at bay, and after that, we'll just have to force our way through the array after that."
Qilin 17 nodded in response after hearing this.
After the trio decided on a plan, Han Li arrived at the entrance of the valley, then closed his eyes as he released his spiritual sense, carefully sensing the spiritual power fluctuations from the array at the entrance of the valley.
A long while later, his eyes suddenly sprang open, and arcs of silver lightning appeared all over his body.
Immediately thereafter came a rumbling thunderclap, and the arcs of silver lightning sprang forth before intertwining with one another in mid-air to form a lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet, encompassing both Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 as well.
"Please come a little closer to me, fellow daoists," Han Li said.
A peculiar look flashed through Qilin 9's eyes as he took a couple of steps closer to Han Li, and Qilin 17 also did the same.
In the next instant, Han Li brought his palms together in front of himself, and the lightning array around the trio instantly shrank down to only around 10 feet in size, while the arcs of lightning that were springing forth from the array were also significantly compressed.
Immediately thereafter, the lightning array around Han Li's trio vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye.
Almost at the exact same moment, several dozen thin bolts of golden lightning erupted from the invisible light barrier at the entrance of the valley, only to then instantly vanish without a trace as if nothing had ever happened.
Inside the valley, a vast expanse of silver lightning suddenly appeared high up in the sky, and Han Li's trio could be seen within the silver lightning, hurtling toward a nearby black cliff in an uncontrolled manner.
Han Li hurriedly withdrew his lightning as he tapped a foot against the cliff to launch himself backward, and he performed a somersault before drifting down onto the ground.
Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 were also able to stabilize themselves before making smooth descents.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief as he said, "The spatial power within this array is even more potent than I imagined, and I almost lost control of my lightning array."
"That's fine, all that matters is that we were able to successfully enter the valley," Qilin 9 said with a wave of his hand.
Han Li swept his gaze across his surroundings to find that the entire valley was riddled with scattered rocks, and there wasn't any snow to be seen. The only thing that was worthy of note was a building constructed from piled-up rocks at the center of the valley.
What was rather surprising to him was that the world's origin qi within the valley was extremely abundant, far more so than even most of the areas in the Bell Toll Mountain Range. Furthermore, there was smoke rising up from the top of the black stone hall, forming a cloud that was giving off five-colored light.
Han Li's trio exchanged a glance with one another before rising up into the air in unison and flying toward the stone hall.
At this moment, the stone hall was filled with scorching fire, and waves of heat were surging incessantly out of the skylight on top of the hall.
At the center of the hall was a golden pill cauldron that was around three feet tall, and it was hovering in mid-air.
An octagonal array had been engraved onto the ground below the pill cauldron, and the entire array was filled with countless fiery runes. Eight fiery dragons were extending out of these runes, carrying the golden pill cauldron and keeping it aloft.
Sweltering flames were surging incessantly out of the bodies and mouths of the fiery dragons, releasing tremendous heat upon the pill cauldron.
The ancient runes engraved onto the golden pill cauldron were flashing incessantly, serving to completely seal in the fragrances of the spirit medicines inside, as well as to constantly draw the surrounding world's origin qi into the cauldron.
Outside the fiery array was a white-haired elderly man wearing a purplish-golden robe and a lotus flower crown. At the moment, he was making a hand seal while controlling the eight fiery dragons beneath the pill cauldron.
The elderly man had a gaunt face with high cheekbones and deep-set eyes, which were staring intently at the pill cauldron before him. There was a fanatical gleam within his eyes, and he seemed to have been completely immersed in what he was doing, as if to him, the pill cauldron was the only thing that existed in this world.
All of a sudden, the flashing runes on the pill cauldron suddenly began to glow with dazzling radiance.
Almost at the exact same moment, the golden light radiating from the pill cauldron itself also turned into a combination of five different colors, and it seemed that some type of important change was taking place.
The look of excitement on the elderly man's face became even more pronounced upon seeing this, and he was constantly murmuring to himself, "Here it comes, here it comes..."
Right at this moment, two beams of golden light pierced through the sealed stone door of the stone hall.
A pair of loud clangs then rang out as the heavy stone door was split up into four chunks before falling into the hall.
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