Chapter 2336: Second Sacred Artifact

In an instant, the silver fire bird shook its wings, and its body swelled rapidly, transforming into a colossal creature hundreds of feet tall. Its feathers were entirely ablaze, and its brilliant silver light almost illuminated the entire upper half of the valley sky.

Witnessing this scene, Han Li's eyes flashed with a sharp glint. He formed a hand seal and uttered the word "Jí."

The Spirit Devouring Fire Bird immediately lowered its head, opening its mouth and spraying downwards.

A sheet of silver flames rolled downwards, submerging all the profound ice near the cold pond.

All the profound ice rapidly dissolved at an astonishing speed, and specks of silver light flew out from the ice, quickly merging into the silver flames.

In a single breath, all the ice layers vanished without a trace, and the cold pond was revealed once more. The silver flames continued to roll downwards, covering the surface of the pond as well.

Amidst the flickering flames, the extremely cold qi surging from the cold pond transformed into wisps of silver mist, which were easily swallowed and fused by the silver flames, making the flames grow even more powerful.

The Spirit Devouring True Flames were originally a mutated true flame, a fusion of yin and yang. After several refinements and absorptions by Han Li, using various external objects, they had become a peculiar existence between heaven and earth, capable of refining and integrating extremely cold or extremely hot substances to further enhance their power.

Earlier, when the Asura Spider race had just opened the seal of the cold pond, the Spirit Devouring True Flames within Han Li became extremely restless, appearing to intensely desire to devour the cold qi of this place.

This filled Han Li with both surprise and joy at the time.

So many years had passed, yet he had never seen the Spirit Devouring True Flames react so intensely.

Even when he traveled through the Spirit Realm and entered several places of extreme cold, facing those types of extremely cold qi that could be devoured, this true flame had never shown such a strong reaction.

Furthermore, Han Li believed that the peculiar coldness here, which left the Asura Spiders helpless, could be easily resolved by the strange abilities of the Spirit Devouring True Flames alone.

However, he naturally couldn't proactively reveal the Spirit Devouring True Flames' ability to devour other cold qi, nor was he willing to display it in front of others.

Therefore, he allowed the woman and other Asura Spiders to continue using the method of relying on the power of the formation to retrieve the treasure.

Now, Han Li hovered above the valley, quietly observing everything below. A faint hint of anticipation was visible on his face.

However, as time slowly passed, the cold qi emerging from the pond began to gradually weaken, as if most of it had been devoured by the Spirit Devouring True Flames.

Han Li frowned. He pointed a finger into the air at the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird.

The bird spun rapidly in the air, its size surprisingly shrinking quickly. In an instant, it transformed back into its original size of about ten feet. After a clear cry, it turned into a fireball and shot downwards.

With a "whoosh"!

The moment the fire bird plunged into the silver flames below, all the silver flames suddenly condensed as if swept by a hurricane and entirely merged into the fire bird's body.

With a flash of silver light, the fire bird instantly plunged beneath the water's surface, disappearing from sight.

Only faint rumbling sounds could be heard from the depths of the cold pond, accompanied by continuous flashes of silver light.

Han Li's eyes were slightly closed, his hands still forming a hand seal, and he was murmuring some unknown incantation in a very low voice.

At this point, the cold qi emerging from the cold pond began to disappear even more rapidly.

An hour later, when the silver fire bird soared out of the depths of the cold pond with another long cry, all the cold qi within had completely vanished. No more chill was emitted.

The pond had become no different from an ordinary body of water.

Han Li's eyes snapped open, his gaze fixed on the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird, filled with a hint of joy.

He saw that the fire bird before him, though entirely enveloped in rolling silver flames, had a crystalline appearance beneath the raging fire, faintly resembling a solid entity.

Clearly, after absorbing the astonishing cold qi from the pond, the fire bird had finally undergone another transformation.

Of course, this change was only just beginning.

The cold qi of this pond was so extreme that even ordinary Mahayana cultivators dared not easily venture deep into it, attesting to its astonishing coldness.

Although the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird was profoundly mysterious, it was impossible for it to completely refine such a degree of cold qi for its own use in such a short time. It had merely forcefully absorbed it into its body for later gradual refinement.

Han Li took a light breath, and with a slight change in his hand seal, was about to retrieve the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird.

But at that moment, the fire bird opened its mouth and surprisingly sprayed a ball of white light directly towards Han Li.

Han Li was startled. His arm blurred instinctively, and he grabbed the ball of light.

He lowered his head to look. It was a crystal-clear spherical object, the size of an egg, appearing transparent and pure, yet incredibly cold.

If it weren't for his own thick protective spiritual light and his immensely strong physical body, his palm would likely have been harmed the moment it touched the orb.

"Interesting! Was this found down below?" Han Li asked in surprise, glancing at the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird with a hint of astonishment.

However, the silver fire bird merely hovered quietly in front of him, showing no reaction at all.

"I must be confused. With your limited sentience, how could you possibly answer?" Han Li was startled at first, then immediately let out a self-deprecating laugh.

He looked at the crystal orb in his hand again, concentrated his spiritual sense, and swept it towards the orb.

But the next moment, Han Li's expression changed, and he let out a soft "hmm."

The moment his spiritual sense touched the surface of the crystal orb, it surprisingly slid past it naturally, as if his hand was originally empty.

Han Li's face was full of surprise. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly pointed a finger between his eyebrows. With a "chí" sound, a crystalline thread shot out from it, and after a flash, it disappeared into the crystal orb.

It was precisely his crystallized spiritual sense!

"So that's how it is."

This time, a hint of realization appeared on Han Li's face. After a slight hesitation, he suddenly tossed the crystal orb into the low air and pointed a finger at it more solemnly.

With a thunderous crack.

A golden arc shot out from his fingertip, and after a flash, solidly struck the object in the air.

The crystal orb immediately spun wildly in the air, its surface covered with countless electrical threads, and finally, with a crisp sound, its surface shattered inch by inch.

After a burst of astonishing cold qi dispersed, a translucent light blue object, emitting waves of fluctuations, suddenly appeared before Han Li.

Inside that extremely cold crystal orb, surprisingly, another thumb-sized round bead was encased.

The fluctuations emanating from this bead evidently contained an extremely strong spatial power.

After Han Li's thoughts quickly raced through his mind, he vaguely understood what was going on.

The sacred object of the Void Fish race hidden in the cold pond was surprisingly not a single item, but two: one large and one small.

The larger one was naturally the light blue stone taken by the woman, while the smaller one was this crystal bead.

On the surface, the spatial law fluctuations emitted by these two items seemed similar. However, since the latter was specifically concealed by other treasures, and could even deceive the spiritual sense of Mahayana cultivators, it should, at the very least, be much more important than the former in the eyes of the Void Fish race.

As for the specific reason, perhaps only the Void Fish race themselves would know the true answer.

After pondering for a while, Han Li, with a flip of his hand, took out a jade box. He swept it towards the crystal bead in front of him, drawing it into the box. He closed the lid and quickly affixed several restriction talismans onto it.

Instantly, the fluctuations emanating from the jade box were completely isolated.

Han Li put away the jade box, then formed a hand seal to activate the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird again.

The silver fire bird raised its head and let out a clear cry. Its size rapidly shrank, transforming into a ball of silver flames that shot towards him. After a flash, it disappeared into Han Li's sleeve.

Han Li stomped his foot again, and his body enveloped in an escaping light, he ascended into the sky as a green rainbow. After a circle, he shot off in a certain direction.

This direction was precisely towards the Qian Fire Land where the Void Fish race resided.

At the same time, the Matriarch of the Asura Spider race, who was returning towards the stone city, stood on the back of a giant eagle and spoke to the young girl with some concern:

"Leaving the Void Fish race outside now, won't there be any problems? After all, their existence is already known to outsiders. And with the sacred object of the Void Fish race we retrieved earlier, they might deduce something."

"Mother, haven't you already sent people to monitor this race's movements? Let the Void Fish race fend for themselves. Although their race's crystal nuclei can refine spatial power, this branch has degenerated quite a bit. Even an adult member is barely at the Void Refinement Stage, unable to refine true spatial laws. Previously, we needed their crystal nuclei because we hoped to gain the ability to control spatial power by devouring their essence. However, after my many years of attempts, I found that this method had little effect. The way I comprehended spatial laws was not through this method, but by forging another path. Otherwise, I would most likely still be unable to comprehend the laws of time and space now,” the blood-robed young girl said indifferently.

"Another path?" The Asura Spider Matriarch was somewhat surprised to hear this.

"Exactly. Now that we have the Void Fish creatures, we don't need too many of their crystal nuclei using this method; our previous reserves are sufficient. There's no need to clash with those outsiders over this. After returning, I will first enter seclusion to refine that person's Nascent Soul, and then deepen my comprehension of the laws of time and space. After I emerge from seclusion, I can separate a trace of the time-space law seed and give it to Mother. This way, both you and I, Mother and daughter, will have the possibility of controlling this pinnacle law power. In the future, our race will be able to move unhindered through all realms,” the blood-robed young girl said with a sweet smile.

"Indeed, with your current cultivation, Daughter, and the assistance of time-space power, you can already contend with ordinary Mahayana cultivators. If you further advance to the Mahayana realm yourself, you will likely immediately join the ranks of top-tier True Spirit existences. Aside from True Dragons and Heavenly Winds, there will truly be few opponents left,” the Asura Spider Matriarch said, also revealing an expression of extreme delight.

The young girl chuckled softly, not saying anything in response, but her expression clearly indicated her agreement with the woman's words.

With a "puff," the yellow light above the underground lava lake receded, and Han Li appeared there out of thin air. After glancing around, he couldn't help but frown slightly.