Chapter 419: Battle Prohibition
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this exchange.
Thanks to the Heaven Controlling Vial, his cultivation advancement had relied heavily on pill consumption since his return to the Immortal Realm. Hence, whenever he got the opportunity, he would read through all types of books related to pill refinement. This was particularly true back when he was still in the Blaze Dragon Dao, and during his readings, he had learned about the Profound Beast Essence Pill.
The pill was refined using the placentas or eggs of certain powerful beasts as the primary ingredients. These demon beasts often possessed incredibly powerful physical bodies, and taking this pill would infuse the power of the demon beast's bloodline into the body of the consumer. Not only would this drastically enhance their physical prowess, the consumer also had a chance of attaining that demon beast's innate abilities.
If the primary ingredients were acquired from immortal beasts that had innate mastery over certain law powers, then there was a chance that the resulting Profound Beast Essence Pill would also be imbued with the same law powers, thereby serving the same purpose as a dao pill.
However, not only was the pill no less difficult to refine than a dao pill, the supplementary ingredients were also very difficult to find, thereby making them exceedingly rare. This one was clearly imbued with law powers, so it was even more remarkable than the average Profound Beast Essence Pill.
Xiong Shan briefly explained the effects of the Profound Beast Essence Pill to Han Li and Patriarch Cold Flame through voice transmission, and the latter's expression instantly changed drastically upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, a burst of radiant black light erupted out of Xue Han's body, and his slightly pale complexion instantly returned to normal, then turned as red as blood.
At the same time, a string of cracks and pops were ringing out from within his body as thick veins began to bulge all over the exposed parts of his body.
His entire body then began to expand rapidly, reaching twice its original size in the blink of an eye, and a layer of thick black scales that was giving off a metallic sheen appeared over his skin, while sharp black claws emerged from the tips of his fingers.
All of a sudden, he had transformed into a half-human, half-draconic creature.
Not only that, but the muscles on his forehead and his back were squirming violently, as if something were about to emerge from those spots.
However, right at this moment, the black light surging over his body subsided, and his squirming muscles also fell still.
As the black faded, Xue Han's new form was revealed in its full glory.
A stunned look flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this. The effects of the Profound Beast Essence Pill were comparable to that of his true spirit transformations.
Attaining those transformations had been an extremely grueling task for Han Li, yet for Xue Han, he was able to achieve the same effect just through taking a pill.
Han Li looked at Xue Han for a moment longer, then withdrew his gaze and continued to scale the staircase, and Patriarch Cold Flame and Xiong Shan hurriedly followed along.
Xue Han gently exhaled, and a sharp gust of wind shot out of his mouth, striking the stone step in front of him with an audible sound.
He then looked down at his own body before heaving a faint sigh.
Having taken the Profound Beast Essence Pill on such short notice, it hadn't been very efficacious at all, and most of the pill's power had been squandered, but this was already enough.
Xue Han took a step forward, climbing up two steps at a time as he recommenced his pursuit of Han Li's trio.
Han Li and the others didn't turn around to see what was happening behind them, but they could detect Xue Han's rapid approach with their spiritual sense, and they hurriedly picked up the pace themselves.
However, in this new form, Xue Han's speed far exceeded theirs, and it didn't take long before the gap between them was shortened to only just over 100 steps.
At this rate, he would be able to catch up to them in no more than 15 minutes.
Xiong Shan's expression darkened slightly as he chanted an incantation, and his body swelled even further in size amid a flash of golden light.
At the same time, all of the hair on his head quickly vanished, and a golden monk robe also appeared over his body.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a golden Arhat.
Following this transformation, Xiong Shan was also able to scale two steps at a time, and he was climbing the staircase at a comparable speed to Xue Han.
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and he also began to channel his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might.
A string of cracks and pops rang out within his body, while 18 specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen, and a burst of tremendous power erupted out of his body, causing the surrounding space to tremble and quiver.
Han Li continued to only take one step at a time, but he wasn't lagging behind Xiong Shan at all.
As a result, Patriarch Cold Flame was instantly overtaken by the two of them, and an urgent look appeared in his eyes as he also began to channel his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might, and 18 specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen as well, but even though they were using the same body refinement art, it was clear that Han Li's physical prowess far surpassed Patriarch Cold Flame's.
Hence, even though Patriarch Cold Flame was also able to accelerate by a large margin, he was still a little slower than Han Li, Xiong Shan, and Xue Han.
As a result, Xue Han was beginning to catch up, and in his urgency to get away, Patriarch Cold Flame flipped a hand over to summon four or five talismans of different colors, all of which he plastered onto his own body in quick succession.
The talismans instantly fused into body, and the starlight around him grew brighter as he sped up once again, allowing him to just barely keep up with Han Li and Xiong Shan.
At this point, they were fewer than 200 steps from the top.
The steps here had become even steeper, while the gravitational force was increasing at a far faster rate than before, thereby forcing everyone to slow down.
Han Li and Xiong Shan were still able to make steady progress, despite being forced to decelerate, but the same couldn't be said for Patriarch Cold Flame.
The starlight radiating from his body had dimmed significantly, and he was also getting short of breath, indicating that he wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer.
Having said that, Xue Han was also in a similar situation. Large sections of the black scales over his skin had already receded, and his face was looking a little pale, while his footsteps were also becoming rather unsteady.
A look of fury and frustration appeared on Xue Han's face.
The bloodline power in the Profound Beast Essence Pill still hadn't completely fused with his body, and he wasn't going to be able to maintain this form for much longer.
All of a sudden, more of the black scales on his body faded, and he was forced to stop in his tracks.
Patriarch Cold Flame was ecstatic to see this, and he paused momentarily to catch his breath while also summoning a blue pill that was giving off tremendous starpower.
He immediately swallowed the pill without any hesitation, then channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts to digest it, and the starlight emanating from his body instantly became significantly brighter, following which he continued to scale the staircase.
A cold gleam flashed through Xue Han's eyes, and he abruptly raised both hands before flicking his fingers through the air in rapid succession.
10 thin black threads instantly shot out of his fingertip before vanishing in a flash.
In the next instant, the 10 black threads appeared behind Patriarch Cold Flame without any warning, then hurtled directly toward his back at an alarming speed.
However, right at this moment, a layer of bright yellow light appeared over the silver staircase, and a burst of tremendous gravitational force began to act upon the black threads.
Seven of the black threads were instantly diverted away from their original trajectories, but the remaining three were still hurtling directly toward Patriarch Cold Flame.
Patriarch Cold Flame's expression changed drastically upon sensing this, and he let loose an alarmed cry as he dodged to the side.
However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to evade the three black threads, which tore through the protective spiritual light around him before piercing into his body, then exploded violently.
Three massive holes were instantly blown into his body, and blood was gushing out profusely.
He let loose an agonized wail as he fell to his knees, and both Han Li and Xiong Shan immediately turned around upon hearing this.
As for Xue Han, he was looking rather surprised, seemingly taken aback by how easily his sneak attack had landed.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, a resounding boom suddenly rang out directly above him, and a thick bolt of reddish-purple lightning appeared out of thin air before striking him with tremendous power.
His entire body was instantly inundated by radiant lightning, and a blood-curdling howl rang out before being abruptly cut off.
Xue Han's body was torn to shreds within the lightning, and his nascent soul sprang out of his destroyed remains, only to be instantly destroyed by the lightning as well.
All of this had happened extremely abruptly, and Han Li was completely rooted to the spot in astonishment, but naturally also quite relieved that Xue Han had been eliminated.
"What a fool!" Xiong Shan chuckled coldly, then paid no further heed to what was happening behind him as he continued to scale the staircase.
It was clear that there was some type of battle prohibition restriction on the staircase.
Instead of following Xiong Shan, Han Li remained on the spot as he cast his gaze toward Patriarch Cold Flame, who had just suffered extremely severe injuries, but was also quite relieved to see the demise of Xue Han.
He pulled out a crimson pill in a shaky manner before swallowing it, and a layer of bright crimson light instantly appeared over his body. The three holes in his body quickly healed, following which he struggled to his feet.
However, Han Li could tell that Patriarch Cold Flame's internal injuries were still far from healed, and it was most likely going to take some time before he could continue to scale the staircase.
Thankfully, the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators were still very far behind, and that should give Patriarch Cold Flame enough time to recover.
With that in mind, Han Li was just about to continue up the staircase when his expression abruptly stiffened.
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