Chapter 253: Trouble
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a pill before swallowing it, and his complexion gradually began to improve.
The Heavy Water True Axis was hovering beside him, looking a little dim, clearly having suffered quite a bit of damage during the battle, so he was going to have to refine it when he got back to the Blaze Dragon Dao.
Meanwhile, Qilin 9 had already stowed away his Triple Origin Great Millet Flags, which had also lost some of their spiritual nature during that final clash against Gu Jie's avatar, much to Qilin 9's dismay.
Of course, Qilin 17 was the one who fared the worst of the three. Not only had he suffered severe injuries, the seal that was equivalent to his bonded treasure had also lost almost all of its spiritual nature from being eroded by the Golden Immortal avatar's law powers. However, he was already extremely fortunate to have been able to survive this ordeal and recover his treasure.
The three of them took a brief rest, then flew back into the valley.
Following the intense battle that had just taken place, the valley was already completely unrecognizable, and most of the surrounding mountains had been razed to the ground. The earth was riddled with countless craters of different sizes, some of which were so deep that molten lava could be seen at the bottom.
This mountain range was quite secluded, but the battle that had just taken place had caused a massive commotion, and some of the nearby cultivating powers had taken notice.
Over the course of the next few decades, many people traveled to this area to try their luck, but that was a story for another time.
Upon entering the valley, a thought suddenly seemed to have occurred to Qilin 9, and he said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Let me go and fetch the two treasures that were serving as the core of the array."
"In that case, I'll go retrieve the Lightning Restraining Wood. Can we count on you to take care of things in the valley, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17?" Han Li asked.
Qilin 17 naturally had no objections to this.
The three of them knew that it was best to leave this place as soon as possible, and they immediately sprang into action while supervising one another with their spiritual sense to ensure that no one played any tricks.
Han Li appeared outside the valley in a flash, then swept a sleeve through the air to send a streak of azure light flying into the ground.
A large hole was blown into the ground, inside of which was a length of golden wood that was taller than a grown man and around the same thickness as a human leg.
The length of wood was entirely golden in color with a series of lightning shaped growth rings visible on its cross section. Its surface was completely smooth and riddled with more golden lightning patterns that were giving off a strong lightning aura.
Even though it was a wooden material, the Lightning Restraining Wood more closely resembled some type of metal ore.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the length of Lightning Restraining Wood was drawn into his grasp, and he took a close glance at it.
According to a book that he had previously read, the Lightning Restraining Wood was a type of rare lightning-attribute spirit material that was extremely sturdy and was able to absorb the power of lightning, making it a top-notch material for refining lightning-attribute spirit treasures.
It was very difficult to grow this type of wood, so it was very rarely seen being sold anywhere, and Han Li certainly wasn't expecting to come across a batch of it here.
Han Li then flew over to another place and blasted the ground open with another burst of azure light to dig up a second length of Lightning Restraining Wood.
Before long, he had retrieved all 81 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood that were buried around the valley, and as he returned to the valley, Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 were already there, with a pair of treasures hovering in front of the former.
One of the two treasures was an antiquated golden sword that was completely different from normal flying swords, possessing a far bulkier and heavier blade, upon which was engraved nine golden stars.
The other treasure was an antiquated square golden mirror with hollow edges. The surface of the mirror was rather murky and indistinct, and there was a fierce tiger engraved onto its back.
Clearly, these were the two treasures that had acted as the core of the array.
It was very apparent that this was a pair of very remarkable treasures, and the metal-attribute fluctuations that they gave off indicated that even if they weren't immortal treasures, they weren't far away from that level.
As for Qilin 17, he had dug up a storage bracelet in addition to that golden pill cauldron, both of which had once belonged to the white-haired elderly man.
This was quite a bountiful haul, but for some reason, both of them were standing in a solemn silence.
"Have you found something, fellow daoists?" Han Li asked as he landed beside the two of them.
"Take a look for yourself," Qilin 17 said in a neutral voice as he patted the golden pill cauldron.
Han Li immediately injected his spiritual sense into the pill cauldron, and even though the pill refinement process had already ceased, there was still a burst of scorching spiritual power that was slowly circulating inside, forming a resolute array that kept his spiritual sense at bay.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he increased his spiritual sense output, allowing him to instantly bypass the array and see what was inside.
There was a thumb-sized purple pill hovering with the cauldron, and close to half of it had been charred black, clearly indicating a failed pill refinement.
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li sent several incantation seals flying into the cauldron, then slammed a hand down onto the cauldron's lid, following which a burst of azure light flashed over his palm.
A faint crack rang out from within the cauldron, and with a sweep of Han Li's sleeve, the lid of the cauldron was removed, and the purple pill inside flew out.
Qilin 9 raised an eyebrow ever so slightly upon seeing this, seemingly rather taken aback by the fact that Han Li was able to break open the restrictions on the cauldron so easily to retrieve the pill inside.
A grim look appeared on Han Li's face as he inspected the purple pill.
There was a purple lightning-shaped spirit pattern on the pill, but it was incomplete, with the charred section swallowing up the majority of the spirit pattern.
Furthermore, the purple lightning spirit pattern was giving off extremely faint law fluctuations.
"So he really was refining a dao pill," Han Li murmured to himself.
"That's right. I took a closer look at his face earlier, and I recalled that this man is Ping Yaozi, a vastly renowned top-tier Earthly Pill Master of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region. However, he's a very secretive person, so very few people know what he looks like. I've heard that he's been trying to become a Heavenly Pill Master for a very long time, but I don't know if he's succeeded or not. If he has..."
Qilin 9's voice trailed off here as a wry smile appeared on his face.
Han Li's expression also darkened slightly upon hearing this.
Even the Blaze Dragon Dao, one of the top-ranking sects in the entire Northern Glacial Immortal Region, didn't have a single Heavenly Pill Master among its ranks, and that was a clear reflection of just how precious pill refinement masters of this lofty caliber were.
If Ping Yaozi really had already become a Heavenly Pill Master, then he would've possessed an unimaginably lofty status in the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace. Even if he had only been a top-tier Earthly Pill Master, this would've still been extremely heavy loss for the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace, and now, they had just killed him to complete a Transient Guild mission.
It was no wonder Gu Jie had sworn to hunt them down, and with that in mind, a chill instantly ran down Han Li's spine.
They had truly landed themselves in hot water this time...
"It's too late to regret our actions now. All of us have cultivated countless years to become True Immortals, and we all have some innocent blood on our hands. The pursuit of the Great Dao is an endeavor that goes against the natural order to begin with, so we should be accustomed to adversity on our path of cultivation. I, for one, certainly won't just accept my fate and resign myself to death," Qilin 9 declared.
"You're right, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9. The Northern Glacial Immortal Region is an extremely vast place, so as long as we make ample preparations, there's no guarantee that Gu Jie will be able to find us, even if he's a Golden Immortal. Time is of the essence, so let's split these things, then get out of here as soon as possible," Qilin 17 replied with a nod.
Han Li naturally had no objections to this, and thus, Qilin 17 emptied all of the content of the white-haried elderly man's storage bracelet onto the ground.
Most of his belongings were various types of spirit plants and ingredients, all of which were filled with abundant spiritual qi and instantly caught the attention of Han Li's trio.
Han Li's gaze immediately settled onto one of the spirit plants, which was as green as jade and slightly curved. It had tiny leaves that were pressed tightly against the stem of the spirit plant like scales, and this was none other than a Horned Dragon Herb, the main material for refining Spring Rain Pills.
Furthermore, there were around a dozen of these Horned Dragon Herbs on the ground, and they appeared to have all been above 50,000 years of age.
As for the other spirit plants and materials, Han Li only recognized less than half of them, but they were all premium ingredients and materials that weren't inferior to the Horned Dragon Herb.
Just these spirit plants and materials alone were already a massive haul, and in addition to them, there were also six or seven treasures, a pair of white jade vials, a purple jade box, and a small pile of what appeared to have been around 50 to 60 Immortal Origin Stones.
The treasures were all spirit treasures of a very high caliber, but they were far inferior to the pair of spirit treasures that had served as the core of the array.
The two white jade vials had restrictions placed upon them to keep out spiritual sense, so it was impossible to tell what they contained.
As for the purple jade box, there was a silver talisman plastered to its surface, and countless tadpole-like silver runes were roaming over its surface, giving off immense spiritual power fluctuations.
There were also several layers of spirit patterns engraved onto the box, releasing a silver light barrier that was also capable of keeping out spiritual sense.
Qilin 17 handed the storage bracelet to Qilin 9 for an examination, but Qilin 9 was staring at the treasures laid out before him in a completely transfixed manner, and only after hearing Qilin 17 call out to him did he return to his senses.
"My apologies, I was just surprised that Ping Yaozi had so many things in his possession," Qilin 9 said as he accepted the storage bracelet from Qilin 17.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon seeing this. It was only for an instant, but he had noticed a peculiar look flash through Qilin 9's eyes just now.
He turned his gaze to the treasures on the ground, only to find that they were all ordinary treasures that didn't appear to have been remarkable in any way.
However, beside those treasures was a rather strange-looking black badge that was giving off a faint black glow.
Qilin 17 also seemed to have noticed the badge, and he remarked, "That's a badge from the Ubiquitous Pavilion. Could it be that this Ping Yaozi is somehow tied to that place?"
Han Li's heart stirred slightly once again upon hearing this.
"Whether he had ties with the Ubiquitous Pavilion has nothing to do with us," Qilin 9 said as he handed the storage bracelet to Han Li after a brief examination.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet as nothing more than a formality ,and after verifying that it had indeed been completely emptied, he set it aside and turned his attention back to the spoils laid out on the ground.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺