Chapter 430: Pursuers
"What kind of vine is this? It has to be something very precious to have been kept here so securely. It's just a pity that it seems to be long dead," Lu Yuqing sighed.
"Regardless, for whatever reason, it seems like the person who came here before us was unable to take this vine," Patriarch Cold Flame said with a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.
All the while, Han Li merely remained silent as his gaze roamed over the withered vine.
All of a sudden, he seemed to have noticed something, and he began to inspect the vine intently with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"What is it, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing immediately asked.
Instead of answering her question, Han Li flew directly toward the vine, immediately followed by Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold Flame.
After landing beside the vine, Han Li lifted up a section of it for closer inspection, and the blue light in his eyes grew even brighter.
After a while, he suddenly heaved a forlorn sigh as he set down the withered vine with a disappointed look on his face.
Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing were both quite perplexed to see this, and they each picked up a section of the vine for themselves for closer inspection.
As it turned out, there were patterns on the vines that were rather similar to beveled silver text or golden seal text, but these patterns were more profound, as if they were the embodiment of the Great Dao itself.
The patterns were very faint, and they would've never been able to notice them had they not been scrutinizing the vine so closely.
"These are Profound Heavenly Patterns!" Patriarch Cold Flame exclaimed.
"There's no mistaking it. These patterns that are imbued with the aura of the Great Dao can only be present on Profound Heavenly Treasures. This was most likely a Profound Heavenly Vine, but the Profound Heavenly Treasure on it has already been taken, and the vine has wilted on its own as a result," Lu Yuqing said with a wry smile.
Han Li pointed at a spot on the vine, and both Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing turned their attention to that spot to find that there was a tiny incision, which wasn't very pronounced due to how withered the vine had become, but it was still distinguishable upon closer inspection.
The incision had clearly been formed after something was taken off the vine.
Lu Yuqing heaved a faint sight upon seeing this.
Profound Heavenly Treasures were extremely precious and could be used to refine Essential Immortal Treasure, yet it had slipped through their grasp.
"There's no point in crying over spilled milk. It looks like we're simply not in luck on this occasion," Han Li said.
Right at this moment, the two Dao Warriors arrived on the scene, holding a pair of bulging storage pouches, having stuffed them with virtually all of the nearby Lightning Aura Soil.
Han Li took the pair of storage pouches before stowing the two Dao Warriors away, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, the starry restriction above the medicine garden suddenly began to tremble violently as a resounding boom rang out.
Han Li's trio immediately looked up at the sky with startled expressions.
At this point, the starry light barrier had only recovered a tiny fraction of its power, and it quickly shattered in the face of the formidable attacks being directed at it.
"What a rich medicinal aura! This is definitely the medicine garden!"
A burst of cackling rang out overhead, and the voice belonged to none other than Xue Han.
Patriarch Cold Flame's complexion immediately paled upon hearing this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal while chanting an incantation.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished into the ground beneath his feet.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he also quickly made a hand seal, upon which a faint light barrier enveloped himself and Lu Yuqing's body before the two of them also vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, the destroyed starry light barrier dissipated into countless specks of light, and not long after Han Li's trio had concealed themselves, Xue Han and the group of Ghost Wail Sect cultivators descended onto the scene.
Upon landing in the medicine garden, Xue Han immediately began to inspect his surroundings, upon which his smile instantly stiffened.
Everyone else was also rooted to the spot.
There was not a single spirit plant left in the entire medicine garden. Not only had everything been completely uprooted, even the spirit soil nurturing the spirit plants that were previously here had also been taken. The entire place had been left in a state of complete chaos, and it would've been impossible to identify this place as a medicine garden had it not been for the rich medicinal aura lingering in the air.
"Someone got here before us!" a yellow-skinned middle-aged man beside Xue Han spat in a vengeful voice.
Xue Han was clearly enraged, and there was a look of burning fury on his face.
Everyone else instantly fell silent at the sight of Xue Han's incensed expression.
After a while, Xue Han exhaled as the fury on his face receded, and he snapped, "Don't just stand there like idiots! Go and see if there's anything left!"
Everyone hurriedly did as they were told, dispersing throughout the medicine garden to conduct a search.
Meanwhile, Xue Han remained still on the spot as he began to inspect the medicine garden with both his eyes and his spiritual sense.
At this moment, there was a faint shadow hovering behind a large rock in a corner of the medicine garden.
Within the shadow stood a pair of blurry figures, and they were none other than Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
There was a solemn look on Han Li's face as he chanted an incantation while flicking his fingers through the air to release a string of incantation seals, which slowly vanished into the space around him.
Xue Han's spiritual sense swept over the two of them without pause, clearly having failed to discover their presence.
Han Li's expression eased slightly upon seeing this, but he still continued to make more hand seals to ensure that they were hidden more securely.
Right at this moment, Xue Han cast his gaze toward the stone altar deep in the medicine garden, and he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of black light, which vanished into the stone altar in a flash before quickly flying back with the withered vine enveloped within it.
None of the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators were able to find anything, and they all returned to gather around Xue Han upon seeing this.
"This is... a Profound Heavenly Vine!" Xue Han exclaimed with an astonished expression as he carefully inspected the vine.
"Looking at the patterns on the vine, that's definitely a possibility! That means that the Profound Heavenly Treasure on it had to have already been taken by the scoundrel who got here before us!" the yellow-faced man cursed.
"This Profound Heavenly Treasure and all of the other spirit plants here had to have been taken by Cold Flame and the others! Thankfully, this Light Frost Palace isn't a very big place, and they seemed to have only come through here recently, so if we go after them now, we should be able to catch them," a tall and thin daoist priest immediately said.
A hint of elation flashed through Han Li's eyes as he eavesdropped on Xue Han and his entourage.
As soon as Xue Han left this place, he and Lu Yuqing would be able to sneak away unnoticed.
He wasn't actually all that fearful of Xue Han. With his current powers, even if he couldn't defeat Xue Han in battle, he would at least be able to ensure self-preservation, but it would be difficult for him to protect himself as well as Lu Yuqing, and he was quite interested in the map in her possession, so he didn't want to lose her.
After hearing what everyone had to say, Xue Han raised his head and slowly swept his gaze over the medicine garden, then suddenly made a hand seal to release a ball of black light.
The ball of black light squirmed around in mid-air like a living creature for a while, then abruptly swelled to form a huge black net that encompassed the entire sky above the medicine garden.
Han Li's expression immediately darkened slightly upon seeing this.
"It's possible that whoever took the spirit plants and the Profound Heavenly Treasure haven't gone far, but it's also possible that they could still be hiding here! We can't afford to pass up any opportunity to claim the Profound Heavenly Treasure!" Xue Han declared as a hint of yearning flashed through his eyes.
If he could obtain an immortal treasure refined using a Profound Heavenly Treasure, then his powers would be significantly enhanced, and that would allow him to leapfrog many figures currently ahead of him in the Ubiquitous Pavilion hierarchy.
"But there's no one here," the yellow-faced man said with furrowed brows.
"Perhaps they used some type of secret technique to conceal themselves, and we've simply been unable to detect them up to this point. Master Xue Han is right, we can't ignore any possibility!" the tall and thin daoist priest said.
"That is indeed possible," the yellow-faced man mused with a contemplative expression.
Xue Han paid no heed to the discussion taking place around him as he began to chant an incantation, and a ball of silver light flew out of his body, containing a pristine white miniature pagoda that was around half a foot tall with a series of profound patterns engraved upon it.
The miniature pagoda quickly swelled to in excess of the height of a grown man, and all of the patterns on its surface had lit up at once.
A series of dazzling white ripples began to proliferate outward from the pagoda, and all of the surrounding world's origin qi instantly began to tremble, as if it were resonating with these white ripples.
The white ripples quickly spread over the entire medicine garden, and Han Li and Lu Yuqing had also become encompassed within them.
The faint light barrier around the two of them instantly began to tremble, and they were slowly being exposed.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he began to chant his incantation and make hand seals with more urgency.
However, his efforts proved to be futile, and it seemed that they were inevitably going to be exposed.
Right at this moment, a burst of faint light emerged from another corner of the medicine garden, then exploded with a dull thump to reveal Patriarch Cold Flame with a panicked look on his face.
"I knew it was you, Cold Flame!" Xue Han said in a cold voice.
Patriarch Cold Flame shuddered as a hint of despair appeared in his eyes, and he began to frantically look around as if he were searching for something.
"Traitors must die! Kill him!" Xue Han declared, and all of the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators instantly pounced at Patriarch Cold Flame, led by none other than the tall and thin daoist priest and the yellow-faced man.
The former swept both sleeves through the air to release balls of azure light that contained arcs of azure lightning, which hurtled directly toward Patriarch Cold Flame, while the latter instantly transformed into a pillar of crimson light.
A massive ghostly projection emerged within the pillar of light before biting down upon Patriarch Cold Flame with ferocious power, while a layer of starlight emerged over Patriarch Cold Flame's body as he fled from the scene as quickly as he could.
"Layman Bone Flame! Daoist Clear Bright! How could you..."
Before he had a chance to finish, he was bombarded by a string of spirit treasures.
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