Chapter 473: Taking the Treasure

Han Li, despite his usual courage, still felt his mind waver and experienced a strong sense of dizziness from the sight. After enduring the discomfort and gazing for a moment, he withdrew his gaze, having found nothing. Although his spiritual sense was powerful, it couldn't penetrate to such depths. Then, without further hesitation, Han Li walked directly towards the pavilion.

As he approached the pavilion, its immense size became apparent; it was at least three or four times larger than an ordinary building. The entrance was a semicircular archway, several meters high, sealed by a layer of yellow light curtain. When Han Li reached the entrance, he surveyed the light curtain. After tilting his head slightly in thought, a flash of green light appeared in his hand, manifesting as a sword light about a foot long. Han Li gently tapped with his finger, and the green sword light lightly pricked the light curtain. Ripples spread, and the sword light effortlessly pierced through, encountering no resistance. This surprised Han Li, but he quickly withdrew the green sword light and extended his arm into the curtain. It felt cool, as if his arm were enveloped by a liquid. Han Li no longer hesitated; he darted forward, passing through the light curtain and disappearing.

But after passing through the archway, Han Li, now inside the pavilion, froze. Before him appeared rows of circular jade platforms, each about three meters high. These platforms varied in size, were made of white, shimmering jade, and were densely arranged in front of Han Li. A soft glow emanated from the platforms, and various colored, hemispherical light shields covered their surfaces, seemingly concealing items within.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of excitement. The moment he saw the characters "Baoguang Pavilion," he guessed he had stumbled upon a great fortune. This pavilion, in all likelihood, contained ancient treasures. However, the pavilion was empty; it seemed that previous visitors who had used this passage had either already chosen their treasures and been transported out, or had ascended to the second floor. With this thought, Han Li scrutinized the jade platforms and indeed found a few that lacked the hemispherical light shields, appearing empty.

But what about the staircase to the second floor? Han Li grew puzzled. After scanning the surroundings, he found no stairs! His curiosity piqued, he searched several more times before his gaze settled on a rather peculiar jade platform. This platform was located alone at the back of the first floor, remarkably flat. Its sides were carved with profound and obscure runic symbols. After his eyes circled it a few times, Han Li, relying on his knowledge of formations, determined that it was a simple, yet oddly shaped, teleportation array. After gazing at it for a moment, he withdrew his attention and slowly walked along the rows of jade platforms, browsing the ancient treasures displayed on them.

As he continued to examine each item, Han Li's brows furrowed. "These ancient treasures are a bit too mundane, aren't they?" he murmured, losing interest after viewing only a few dozen platforms. Standing with his arms crossed, a hint of doubt crossed his face. The items on these platforms hardly lived up to the name "ancient treasures"; each one was an ancient-style weapon like a long *ge* or a *ji*. Although they shimmered with various colors of spiritual light, Han Li knew that during ancient times, these items were comparable to the flying swords and flying knives used by cultivators today, and generally possessed no particularly astonishing powers. Of course, it wasn't that they were completely useless! However, possessing a magic treasure like the Azure Bamboo Cloud-Swarm Swords, Han Li naturally found these lower-tier items unimpressive. He desired ancient treasures with special abilities, like the flower basket.

Despite these thoughts, fearing he might miss something, Han Li still forced himself to meticulously examine all the jade platforms. In the end, Han Li sighed and unhesitatingly walked towards the teleportation array. He believed the second floor ought to be different. After placing several spirit stones onto the teleportation array, Han Li arrived at a new location amidst a flash of white light.

"Is this the second floor of Baoguang Pavilion?" Han Li narrowed his eyes, staring ahead, his lips pressed tightly together. The space here was not large. Apart from a massive spherical light shield a short distance in front of him, there was nothing else in the surroundings. This light shield, about a dozen meters high, emitted a soft, azure glow, floating several meters above the ground, captivating attention at the center of the second floor. Inside, dozens of ancient treasures of various forms floated silently. There were scrolls, jade tablets, round alms bowls, black banners, and other items Han Li recognized, as well as those he didn't, with no two items alike. Upon seeing this, Han Li's heart swelled with joy; he knew he had come to the right place.

However, these items were displayed so openly. If they were easy to take, previous cultivators would have long since claimed them all. How could it be his turn? With this thought, Han Li slowly walked towards the spherical light shield with his hands clasped behind his back, circling it three or four times before stopping.

Opening his mouth, a small, inch-long green sword shot out. After circling above his head a few times, at Han Li's mental command, it transformed into a streak of green light and shot directly towards the bottom of the light shield. With a soft "bang," a bright blue light shimmered where the small sword struck the light shield. The green streak, however, bounced directly back, completely ineffective. Seeing this, Han Li was not angry, but rather delighted. The stronger the resistance, the more it indicated the extreme preciousness of the ancient treasures within the spherical light shield.

With an excited expression, Han Li opened his mouth again, spitting out nine small swords in quick succession. After a prolonged hum above his head, these small swords merged into a single, massive sword of green light. "Slash!" Han Li growled. The massive sword executed a powerful "Split Mount Hua" strike, unceremoniously slashing at the light shield. With a "boom," the moment the massive sword contacted the shield wall, it tore open a crack several feet long. Han Li revealed a trace of joy. But before he could take any further action, a powerful force suddenly surged from within, and the massive sword was abruptly bounced back with a sharp "clang." And with a flash of blue light, the crack instantly reverted to its original state.

Han Li was surprised at first, then his expression turned grim. He rubbed his chin, gazing at the spherical light shield once more. After a short while, Han Li's expression softened, and he smiled faintly. He pointed at the massive sword, and with a clear hum, it disassembled, transforming back into nine small swords that flew back into his body. Then, without hesitation, he reached for his waist and conjured a spirit beast pouch filled with Gold Devouring Beetles.

A loud buzzing erupted as a swarm of gold and silver beetles surged out of the pouch. With a low whistle from Han Li, the swarm immediately rushed forward, instantly covering the bottom of the spherical light shield. A moment later, the swarm of beetles gnawed a three- to four-foot-wide circular hole in the shield wall before Han Li. The light shield flared with blue light, and the circular hole rapidly shrank amidst a distortion, its recovery speed even faster than the Gold Devouring Beetles' consumption by a good margin. Seeing this, Han Li dared not delay. He immediately transformed into a slender streak of green light and flew into the shield through the still-unsealed hole. At that very moment, the shield wall resealed itself.

Once the green light receded, Han Li's figure appeared inside the light shield. Floating gently, he gazed at the dozens of ancient treasures nearby, each emanating an ancient aura, a hint of excitement on his face. However, Han Li dared not linger. He quickly tried to extend his spiritual sense to gauge the spiritual energy of these ancient treasures. But immediately, a bitter expression crossed his face; his spiritual sense was unable to leave his body in the slightest here. This meant he could only rely on intuition and experience to choose an item. After this helpless realization, Han Li could only widen his eyes and meticulously examine each item one by one.

A strange blade? No, it was clearly an offensive ancient treasure, and he wasn't interested in such. A token? No, judging by the strange beast image on it, it was probably used to control the spirits of spiritual beasts, similar to the scroll he had obtained previously. A small drum? What was this for? He couldn't discern its use at all. "Forget it!" he muttered to himself, discarding ancient treasures one by one.

Finally, Han Li narrowed his choices down to three items. One was a golden-yellow oval mirror, another was five multicolored copper rings linked together, and the last was a large, dark-red cloak. Han Li naturally had his reasons for choosing these three items. The golden-yellow mirror was a given; in the cultivation world, mirror-type magic treasures were almost invariably unique in their abilities and incredibly powerful. Han Li certainly didn't want to miss it. The five multicolored copper rings strung together likely contained the attributes of the five elements. Although he didn't know their specific abilities, their power would certainly not be small. As for the last item, the cloak...