Chapter 411: Familiar
Han Li naturally wasn't going to give the snow lion a chance to recover, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which arcs of golden lightning erupted out of the flying sword that was embedded into the blue crystal, forming a net of golden lightning that instantly swallowed up the snow lion's entire head.
The flurries of snow that was converging toward the snow lion's head instantly exploded upon contact with the net of golden lightning, unable to reach the snow lion to facilitate its healing.
A resounding boom rang out as the frost core in the snow lion's head was reduced to powder by the eruption of golden lightning, and the snow lion instantly stiffened before collapsing to the ground, disintegrating into a pile of snow that fell away in all directions.
Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the azure flying sword instantly flew back up his sleeve as a streak of light.
"That was amazing, Brother Liu!" Lu Yuqing cheered as she clapped her hands together with glee, then hurriedly made her way over to the snow lion's remains before rummaging through the pile of snow.
Moments later, she stood up with a hint of disappointment on her face and sighed, "Your attack was too powerful, Brother Liu. The frost core was completely destroyed."
"Why do you want its frost core?" Han Li asked.
"The frost cores of these frost beasts contain immense glacial qi, but they're not of the yin-attribute. They're very much sought-after in the Black Wind Sea, and they can be sold for quite a bit of spirit stones in Black Wind City," Lu Yuqing explained.
Han Li merely nodded in response and didn't say anything as he made his way into the valley, then strode toward the cluster of buildings inside.
The mountain path in the valley was rather narrow, and the snow covering it was even thicker than what was outside the valley, easily reaching up to waist height. Hence, Han Li used a levitation technique to float above the snow as he strode into the valley.
Lu Yuqing did the same as she trailed along behind Han Li.
The two of them continued into the valley for a few more minutes without encountering any further frost beasts, and they arrived on a flat and level plaza.
Just like before, the snowstorms in all of the places where there were buildings were a bit less ferocious, and the snow on the ground also wouldn't be as deep.
The cluster of buildings in the valley was quite large, taking up virtually the entire valley, and it would've looked like a small town had it not been for the fact that all of the buildings were extremely grand and majestic.
Many of the pillars and eaves had profound runes inscribed upon them, but almost all of them had been destroyed as well, and the treasures in this place had naturally also already been looted.
It took Han Li and Liu Yuqing close to two hours to examine all of the buildings one by one, and they only discovered some destroyed treasures inside that were completely worthless.
After emerging from the final pavilion, Han Li cast his gaze into the distance to find that there was a translucent icy mountain face at the end of the valley.
At the foot of the mountain face was a cave that was several dozen feet tall, and it was impossible to tell how deep the cave ran.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing exchanged a glance with one another, then made their way to the end of the valley, arriving in front of the cave.
The two of them then peered into the cave to find that it was quite dim inside, but there was a speck of white light several thousand feet away, and that seemed to be where the cave ended.
Blue light flashed within Han Li's eyes as he released his spiritual sense into the cave, and moments later, he shook his head before making his way into the cave.
Lu Yuqing was about to ask if he had detected anything, but with Han Li striding forward in silence, she could only follow along.
Only after entering the cave did Han Li discover that the walls on either side, the roof of the cave, and even the ground beneath his feet were all flat surfaces of hard, blue ice that were as smooth as mirrors.
It was very quiet inside the cave, and only the sound of Han Li and Lu Yuqing's footsteps could be heard ringing out within it.
Han Li wasn't walking very quickly, and he would occasionally stop and inspect his surroundings momentarily before continuing onward.
After this had happened three times, Lu Yuqing was finally unable to suppress her curiosity, and she asked, "Why do you keep stopping, Brother Liu? Have you discovered something?"
Instead of giving a response, Han Li merely shook his head, then continued with what he was doing in silence.
Lu Yuqing could only follow along with a puzzled expression.
Upon reaching the exact middle point of the cave, Han Li stopped once again.
He stood with his eyes closed for a while, then crouched down and pressed a palm against the ground. Blue light was flashing in his eyes, and he fell into deep thought.
Moments later, he said, "I can hear something down there."
Before Lu Yuqing had a chance to reply, Han Li abruptly thrust his palm downard, and a loud crack rang out, following which the ice beneath his palm was shattered, and a series of cracks spread outward in all directions like a system of cobwebs.
Han Li stood back up and took a few steps backward, following which the area that he had just pressed down on caved in to reveal an ovular hole that was around 10 feet in size.
The sound of blowing wind could be heard coming from the hole, and it seemed that there was a huge space in there.
Han Li immediately jumped into the hole, and Lu Yuqing didn't even get a chance to ask him what he had discovered before he was already out of sight.
Hence, she had no choice but to jump down as well.
The two of them fell through the hole one after another, and it was only a short fall before they landed on the ground.
Han Li could feel that the soil beneath his feet was a little damp and loamy, and he looked up to find a sheet of blue ice that was around three feet thick above his head.
Lu Yuqing looked around to find that they were standing in a pitch-black underground passageway, and she asked in a puzzled voice, "What is this place, Brother Liu? It feels a little strange here."
Han Li raised a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture as he said, "Stay quiet for now and come with me."
Lu Yuqing immediately fell silent and trailed long behind Han Li as he made his way down the passageway, which led downward on a gradual slope.
After descending for over 1,000 feet along the passageway, the two of them drew to a halt.
Faint rays of light were shining into the passageway from up ahead, and bursts of dull rumbling could also be heard ringing out in the distance.
The two of them exchanged a glance, then concealed their auras in unison before continuing onward.
Upon arriving at the end of the passageway, they discovered that the rumbling had grown even louder, and it was reverberating throughout the entire passageway.
Han Li strode over to the exit of the passageway to find himself standing atop a sheer cliff, beneath which was an enormous underground karst cave.
He cast his gaze toward the center of the cave to find that there was a battle taking place there between a pair of humanoid figures and several enormous frost beasts.
At the very center of the cave was a large white stone plaza that had been artificially carved out, upon which stood a palace, but it had been destroyed and reduced to rubble.
Han Li noticed that the attire worn by the two figures on the plaza was quite familiar. One of them was a tall and imposing middle-aged man dressed in a black robe with a skull design embroidered onto the collar, and he was clearly a Ghost Wail Sect cultivator.
The other figure was a short and wizened elderly man dressed in a black vest with a black bandana around his head, and he was a Southern Dawn being.
Prior to this, Han Li's attention had been focused entirely on the Golden Immortals of the two factions, so he hadn't paid any heed to the other Ghost Wail Sectand Southern Dawn Race cultivators. As a result, he had no recollection of these two.
Taking a closer look, Han Li discovered that despite the elderly man's small stature, his powers were quite formidable. He was wielding a huge golden halberd that was twice as tall as himself, and it resembled a giant golden fan as he swung it through the air.
He was facing a pair of snow lions that were both dozens of feet tall, and whenever they tried to lash out at the elderly man with their paws, they would be struck by the halberd, which would either inflict huge gashes or sever the paws entirely from their bodies.
As for the middle-aged man from the Ghost Wail Sect, he was completely unarmed and locked in battle against a pair of snow apes. White light was radiating from his fists, and there were specks of blue light shimmering within the white radiance.
With each punch that he threw, a resounding boom would ring out, and whatever part of the snow apes' bodies that came into contact with his fist would instantly explode into powder.
It seemed that the two of them held a decisive upper hand, but in reality, this was far from a favorable situation for them. The frost beasts seemed to be unable to feel any pain, and regardless of how severe their injuries were, they were always able to quickly make a full recovery, regenerating significantly faster than the snow lion that Han Li and Liu Yuqing had faced earlier.
What was most damning of all was that aside from these four frost beasts, there was also a snow dove that looked as if it had been carved out of ice standing atop the wreckage of the destroyed palace, and it was staring intently at the two cultivators.
It was clear that if either of the two of them were to display any signs of weakness or lapses in concentration, then the snow dove would instantly strike with lightning speed.
In contrast with the four other frost beasts, it was able to shoot arrow-like strands of silver ice out of its sharp beak, and the strands of ice were imbued with ice-attribute law powers, so the two cultivators had to be wary even with their True Immortal Stage cultivation bases.
After observing the ongoing battle and the cultivation arts being used by the two cultivators for some time, Han Li's brows furrowed ever-so-slightly, following which a hint of surprise and recognition appeared on his face.
Could it really be them?
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