Chapter 1354: Heartache Engulfs the Body

Under the gaze of so many people, the woman, despite her inner turmoil, could only tremble. A white light flew out, circled once, and transformed into a crystal-clear flying sword that hovered above her head.

It was her life-bound artifact, the Ice Crystal Sword, which she had cultivated! Speaking of which, she also felt quite helpless.

In fact, even if the Greenwave Blade had been tampered with, given enough time to integrate the new ten-thousand-year profound jade into her flying sword, the Ice Crystal Sword, with its power greatly increased, could have frozen the blade.

Although she had now released her flying sword, Ms. Xu didn't dare to rashly strike at the green flying knife immediately. Instead, she hesitated and glanced at Han Li.

Han Li looked at both the Ice Crystal Sword and the green flying knife, then suddenly made a grabbing motion with one hand towards the flying sword.

Ms. Xu felt her life-bound artifact shake violently, then with a whoosh, it unexpectedly detached from her control and was pulled into Han Li's hand.

Han Li held the hilt in one hand and flicked his fingers across the blade with the other, producing a prolonged ringing sound like the cry of a phoenix.

The sound was pleasant and melodious, like celestial music.

The triangular-eyed old man watched this scene, at first startled, then a cold sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

While cultivators at their level could indeed use techniques and secret arts to enhance the power of their own artifacts, arbitrarily increasing the power of someone else's life-bound artifact was certainly not an easy task.

After all, conflicts in spiritual energy or cultivation methods were extremely difficult to overcome and integrate.

Even the powerful enhancement he had just given to his apprentice's life-bound artifact was only possible because he had recently stumbled upon an extremely profound spiritual talisman and had spent half a month painstakingly refining it.

Han Li, currently, was merely an early-stage cultivator, and the old man absolutely didn't believe he could instantly imbue the flying sword with any power.

Furthermore, to freeze the Greenwave Blade, only a power with a similar ice-cold attribute would suffice, which significantly limited the possibilities. The old man had considered all of this thoroughly, which was why he wasn't at all afraid of Han Li trying to interfere in the same manner.

"Good sword!" Han Li seemed to have seen through all of the old man's thoughts. A slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth, and then, from the hand holding the hilt, silver flames suddenly burst forth, instantly enveloping the entire flying sword. In a flash, they vanished into the blade. The originally crystal-clear sword instantly transformed into a silvery-white color, and a lifelike image of a soaring firebird with spread wings appeared on its surface, as if it had been engraved there all along.

This was Han Li forcefully imbuing the Ice Crystal Sword with his Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames, causing this miraculous manifestation.

This was also because the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames possessed the incredible divine ability to devour various spiritual energies. Being a fusion of Primordial Yin True Fire and Solar Essence Fire, they could transform at will into attributes of extreme cold or extreme heat, which allowed them to integrate into the flying sword so easily and without issue.

Witnessing this scene, the old man's triangular eyes widened slightly, his pupils contracted, and everyone else present was greatly astonished.

Han Li moved his hand, and with a whoosh, the flying sword was thrown back.

Ms. Xu, delighted and surprised, swiftly formed a sword incantation, instantly regaining control of the flying sword. She then chanted incantations, her jade-like fingers moving in continuous gestures as streams of magical seals flashed and merged into the flying sword, while she simultaneously poured all her spiritual power into the blade.

Immediately, the flying sword hummed repeatedly, then suddenly flared, and a layer of silver flames appeared on its surface. With a swirl, it instantly transformed into a silver firebird about ten feet in size.

The moment the firebird appeared, the air throughout the entire hall plummeted to an extreme temperature, and layers of pure white frost, shimmering brilliantly, even appeared on the nearby ground.

With a sharp cry from Ms. Xu, the firebird flapped its wings frantically a few times and plunged towards the green flying knife not far away.

Seeing that the Ice Crystal Sword had clearly been enhanced by Han Li and its power greatly increased, the dwarf showed signs of panic. But at this point, he could only grit his teeth and, likewise, form an incantation to activate his own life-bound artifact.

The green flying knife vibrated, and as a bright light burst forth, it transformed with a roll into a green flood dragon with a single horn on its head, fiercely charging forward to meet its opponent. With a tremendous boom.

The green flood dragon and the firebird collided. The moment the green light and silver flames intertwined, the firebird opened its beak wide and, in one bite, devoured a significant portion of the flood dragon's body, consuming it without a trace.

The dwarf let out a loud cry, spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and, with a terrified expression, had no chance to cast another spell.

After a soft bang, the firebird transformed into a swirling mass of silvery ice mist, which enveloped the incomplete green flood dragon.

As the silver light flared brightly, a loud crackling sound erupted, and a massive ice block, over ten feet tall, appeared in the air.

The green flood dragon, trapped within the ice, let out a wail as its body disintegrated and vanished, revealing a dim flying knife.

What went unnoticed was that the moment the flying knife reappeared, a slender streak of silver light silently shot out from the ice mist and, in a flash, vanished into the flying knife.

Strangely enough, the dwarf, who was clearly over twenty feet away from his life-bound artifact, collapsed to the ground with a thud the moment the flying knife was frozen, as if he were a zombie, immediately losing consciousness.

The Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames were such a heaven-defying divine ability that even a Refinement Void cultivator from back then would suffer a minor loss if caught off guard. A mere Nascent Soul cultivator's artifact, even if imbued with some power, was naturally no match for it.

Ms. Xu, seeing this scene, was filled with both surprise and delight and swiftly made a beckoning gesture with her jade-like hand.

Instantly, the silver ice mist condensed and, in a flash, reverted to the silver flying sword, which immediately flew back.

However, along the way, a wisp of silver flame peeled off the blade and shot out, disappearing in a flash.

A moment later, this flame merged into Han Li's body and vanished.

At the same time, Huang Bao, who was standing by, recovered from his shocked expression. His body swayed in shock and anger. In the next moment, he appeared beside his apprentice. A quick glance revealed that a layer of eerie milky-white frost had appeared on the dwarf lying on the ground, and his face was turning blue, as if he was about to freeze to death.

"Heart-chilling intrusion!" The moment Huang Bao saw this, he cried out, his face filled with horror.

But he was, after all, a Soul Transformation cultivator. Without hesitation, he flicked his sleeve towards the giant ice block in the air. A red light shot out, and with a boom around the ice block, a ball of fire cloud exploded, instantly engulfing the ice block. The temperature in the hall rapidly soared. The giant ice block also instantly dissolved and broke free. In a blink of an eye, the green flying knife regained its freedom, immediately flashing back and merging into the dwarf's body on the ground.

Han Li witnessed this scene, but his face showed no unusual expression.

To conceal the true divine ability of the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames, after diminishing the enhanced power of the flying knife, the ice block that froze it was formed using the Ice Crystal Sword's inherent cold power. Otherwise, with the divine ability of these Heavenly Flames, the extreme cold it produced would not have been so easily dispelled. However, Han Li also revealed some formidable power to make the opponent retreat.

He had previously channeled a wisp of the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames' extreme cold power to permeate the flying knife and, through the mental connection, directly invade the dwarf's body.

Speaking of which, this "Heart-chilling Intrusion" divine ability was also a peculiar new divine ability that Han Li had only recently been able to unleash through the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames.

He had also looked into relevant information, and this type of divine ability seemed to have an extraordinary origin, seemingly only possible with a few legendary extreme cold powers from the Spirit Realm.

And the effect of doing so was indeed significant.

In the triangular-eyed old man's mind, Han Li suddenly became mysterious and unfathomable.

The old man quickly pulled out a fiery red pill from his person and put it into the dwarf's mouth. Seeing the blue tint on his face gradually fade, he let out a long sigh of relief before looking towards Han Li, his expression somewhat uncertain.

"Brother Han, your divine abilities are astonishing. I, Huang, am ashamed of my inferiority. The matter of my apprentice's marriage proposal is hereby dropped. I shall take my leave," Huang Bao said with a forced smile, finally cupping his hands towards Han Li after pondering for a while.

Then he picked up the dwarf and left the hall.

Han Li returned a faint bow and didn't say much. However, after watching the old man's figure vanish in a flash from the hall entrance, his expression suddenly turned grim. Before Ms. Xu could step forward to express her thanks, he coldly asked, "What is this person's background?" Ms. Xu was startled, not yet understanding Han Li's meaning, but the green-eyed man nearby immediately understood and quickly interjected, "Senior Han, please rest assured. Huang Bao and his apprentice are from a small sect called Flowing Sand Valley, not from any ancient major sect. He is the highest-ranking elder of Flowing Sand Valley in terms of cultivation."

"Is that so? Then it seems I won't have to bother myself further," Han Li said. "Fellow Daoist Xu, assisting you outside the scope of our team's mission, this is the first and last time. Should such troublesome matters arise again, I hope you can handle them yourself. Do you understand what I mean?" He suddenly turned and spoke to the female cultivator.

"This junior understands. Thank you very much for your assistance this time, Senior. Such matters will definitely not happen again," Ms. Xu said with utmost respect, though her heart felt a slight weight.

Han Li nodded faintly and strode out towards the main entrance, also leaving the hall.

"What kind of extreme cold power is this silver flame? It can even unleash the 'Heart-chilling Intrusion' divine ability, but the several types of cold flames mentioned in legends don't seem to look like this," the green-eyed man mused after Han Li had departed. He then let out a bitter laugh and turned to ask Fairy Xu, "Fellow Daoist Xu, Senior Han seems to care for you quite a bit. You two must have some connection, right? Do you know what kind of cold flame that was?"

"Senior Han indeed has some connection with my ancestors, but I've never heard of this type of cold flame before," Ms. Xu replied with a soft sigh. "The day it devoured the transformed savage beast, it wasn't too surprising that it possessed such divine ability. However, Senior Han doesn't seem to like others prying into his background. Brother, it's better not to ask such questions. Otherwise..." she advised.

The green-eyed man's expression subtly changed upon hearing this, and he repeatedly nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Han Li had already transformed into a streak of green light, heading straight for the marketplace in Tiance City.

According to the information he had received, the auction was scheduled for noon, so going now was perfect timing.