Chapter 444: Completely Empty
After steadying themselves, both Han Li and Lu Yuqing heaved a collective sigh of relief.
The teleportation array seemed to have transported them out of the secret area earlier, but it had actually suddenly collapsed at a crucial juncture, casting them into an area of spatial turbulence, and it had taken them a great deal of effort to escape.
The spatial rift flashed a few times before abruptly vanishing, and Han Li inspected his surroundings briefly while releasing his spiritual sense throughout the nearby area.
Lu Yuqing's expression eased slightly at the sight of the surrounding environment, and she quickly swallowed a pill, upon which her complexion immediately began to improve.
"Where are we right now? Have we been teleported out of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?" she asked in a slightly uneasy manner.
Even a slight deviation in a teleportation array could result in a vast difference in the destination, and the fact that they had been cast into a spatial storm certainly wasn't going to help the matter.
"I don't think so. I can still detect the profound glacial qi that's unique to the Light Frost Region here, so we should still be in the immortal manor," Han Li replied.
"Good," Lu Yuqing said with a relieved expression.
"That teleportation array has already been destroyed, so Xue Han and the others will most likely fall to their demise along with that secret area. We should be able to take some time to rest and recuperate here," Han Li continued.
Lu Yuqing had sustained some rather severe injuries, and even though he was uninjured, he had virtually used up all of his immortal spiritual power in the process of escaping from the spatial turbulence.
This place appeared to be quite bleak and desolate, but at the very least, it seemed to be safe.
Lu Yuqing was in desperate need of some rest, and she immediately nodded in agreement.
Hence, the two of them descended onto the desert, then set up a few restrictions around themselves before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Han Li summoned a pair of Immortal Origin Stones to help himself replenish his immortal spiritual power, and close to a day later, he had made a full recovery.
After withstanding a string of ordeals in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, his cultivation base had advanced a little further, but that final immortal acupoint still showed no sign of budging.
A resigned look appeared on his face as diverted his attention away from the stubborn immortal acupoint, then turned to the side to find that Lu Yuqing was still meditating with a spherical azure light barrier around her.
Han Li withdrew his gaze, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon a gray stone slab, the very same one that contained the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
He had been too busy earlier to take a close look at the cultivation art, and he was eager to take advantage of this window of respite.
Blue light flashed within his eyes as he inspected the stone slab closely, and around two hours later, the blue light in his eyes faded as he withdrew his gaze.
He had already completely memorized the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts, and just like the first half of the cultivation, the second half also laid out the method required to open 18 profound acupoints.
He was confident that if he could master the second half of the cultivation art and open this second set of 18 profound acupoints, then he would be able to break through his final immortal acupoint with no issues.
Just like the first half, the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts also involved guiding starpower into the body to open up profound acupoints.
However, the second half of the cultivation art was far more complex than the first half, and not only was an enormous amount of starpower required to open the second set of 18 profound acupoints, a considerably long time had to be spent on bodily refinement as well, making the process far more rigorous than what had been laid out in the first half of the cultivation art.
He wanted nothing more than to drop everything and immediately find a place to go into seclusion, but this was clearly not a suitable place for seclusion. On top of that, he still had to help Daoist Hu Yan secure whatever treasure he was searching for in the limited time left so that he could obtain the second part of the Mantra Treasured Axis, so he would have to save the Great Universe Origin Arts for later.
With that in mind, stowed the gray stone slab away again, then cast his gaze forward with a contemplative look in his eyes.
He didn't know where Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were at this moment, and he also had no idea what the treasure Daoist Hu Yan had been referring to was.
The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor was far more complex a place than he had imagined. It was an enormous place that rivaled a small continent, and he had no idea where to find Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, and right as he was about to close his eyes, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as if a thought had occurred to him.
He then raised a hand, and Xiong Shan's storage bracelet appeared in his grasp.
He still hadn't had a chance to examine the storage bracelet yet. Considering he had been quite a formidable swordsman with unknown ties to the Boundless Sword Sect, surely his storage bracelet had to have been a precious treasure trove.
With that in mind, Han Li was feeling a little excited, but his smile instantly stiffened as soon as he injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet.
To his surprise, Xiong Shan's storage bracelet was completely empty!
That wasn't entirely the truth as there were some items piled up in a corner of the storage bracelet's internal space, but none of those things were very valuable.
The only things that were even slightly appealing to Han Li were several vials of recovery pills and a few scriptures, and there were barely even any Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li was initially quite perplexed to see this, but he quickly came to understand why this was the case.
Xiong Shan had already exhausted all of his resources for the sake of his previous sword refinement attempt, and only several centuries had passed since then, so it was only to be expected that he had to empty his pockets again for this second sword refinement.
Furthermore, as soon as he entered the Light Frost Palace, he had immediately traveled straight to the Boundless Sword Sect, so he didn't have any time to collect any treasures along the way, and that was why his storage bracelet was so barren and desolate.
Han Li was slightly disappointed to see this, but he then quickly reminded himself that he had already reaped many rewards in the Light Frost Palace, and asking for any more would only be a sign of excessive greed, which was certainly not a good thing.
With that in mind, the disappointment in his heart quickly faded away, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release all of the storage bracelet's contents, then briefly sorted through them splitting them up into different categories before stowing them away.
Before long, all that remained in front of him was a silver jade box, within which were there jade slips.
He was quite interested in the cultivation arts that Xiong Shan had been using prior to his death, and he picked up one of the three jade slips before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
This jade slip contained a cultivation art by the name of the Great Destruction Yang Sword Arts. The cultivation art could support one's cultivation to the Golden Immortal Stage, and it had most likely been Xiong Shan's primary cultivation art.
According to the description of the Great Destruction Yang Sword Arts, the cultivation art granted one mastery over the laws of metal, and it was rather similar in nature to the laws of destruction.
Han Li hadn't dabbled in metal-attribute cultivation arts in the past, and he had no intention of beginning now, so this cultivation art wasn't very useful to him.
However, there were some sword-related secret techniques and insights recorded at the very end of the cultivation art that could be useful for reference purposes.
He read through the entire cultivation art from beginning to end, then placed it back into the jade box before picking out another jade slip and injecting his spiritual sense into it.
This jade slip contained a body refinement cultivation art by the name of the Golden Arhat Arts, and it appeared to be the secret technique that Xiong Shan had unleashed while climbing the stairs outside of the Light Frost Palace.
This was quite a remarkable body refinement art that granted one tremendous physical prowess, but a mastery over the laws of metal were required to cultivate it.
Han Li immediately lost interest in the cultivation art upon seeing this prerequisite, and he only briefly read through its contents before setting it down again and picking up the final jade slip.
This jade slip contained some pill recipes, most of which were for earthy metal-attribute pills, which would be quite helpful for True Immortals using metal-attribute cultivation arts.
Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip as a hint of befuddlement flashed through his eyes.
None of the jade slips had contained any records of the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array. Could it be that Xiong Shan had destroyed those records?
A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face as he pondered this matter, and he was just about to stow the jade box away when he suddenly seemed to have noticed something.
He fiddled with the jade box briefly, and it suddenly split apart down the middle with a faint crack. As it turned out, there was a hidden compartment with what appeared to be a piece of gray cloth inside.
What's this?
Han Li picked up the gray cloth to find that it was roughly square in shape, and it resembled a dirty rag, but upon closer inspection, he noticed some faint patterns on the cloth.
These patterns were very strange in appearance, and even with Han Li's vast wealth of knowledge and experience, he was at a complete loss as to what they were.
However, there was something profound about these patterns that convinced him that they definitely weren't just haphazard designs casually drawn onto a cloth.
The gray cloth was very smooth and slightly cool to the touch, and it was unclear what type of material it had been fashioned out of.
Han Li inspected the cloth back and forth for a long while, even using his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and Eye of Truth in the process, but was unable to find anything worthy of note.
The gray cloth wasn't giving off any spiritual power fluctuations, and if it weren't for those profound patterns, it would've appeared no different from a normal rag.
However, the fact that Xiong Shan had stored it away so carefully clearly indicated that it was no ordinary object.
A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face as he absentmindedly rubbed the cloth between his fingers, upon which a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
With his physical strength, that casual rubbing motion would've been enough to tear a steel slab apart, yet the gray cloth remained completely unscathed.
Han Li grabbed onto the cloth with both hands and attempted to pull it apart, but it refused to budge.
He raised an eyebrow as he exerted even more force through his hands, but the gray cloth was able to easily hold itself together.
An intrigued look flashed through Han Li's eyes as he switched tactics, attempting to tear the cloth apart down the middle this time, but still to no avail.
A hint of elation flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this.
He had exerted sufficient force to tear apart even an ordinary spirit treasure just now, yet this gray cloth remained completely unscathed, so there had to be something special about it.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l