Chapter 487: Transformation Treasure

Han Li felt uncertain about Xuangu’s intentions. He shifted his gaze, suddenly looking at the Blood Jade Spider not far away.

The red light emanating from this spirit beast was increasingly dazzling. Although its body trembled slightly, it continued to slowly retract its silk threads.

The milky-white silk thread now reflected a faint blue light, flickering eerily with a cold glow, giving off a strange sensation.

However, as the blue light along the silk approached the Blood Jade Spider's red glow, it burst into specks of white light and was immediately repelled outwards, unable to get within half an inch of the Blood Jade Spider's body.

Han Li frowned slightly.

Without a doubt, this strange light was certainly related to the Azurefrost Ice Flames. No wonder none of those old monsters went to help the spirit beast retrieve the treasure. They were probably very wary of this blue light!

Just as he thought this, a deafening "boom" echoed from the sky, accompanied by Barbarian Hu’s shouts and wild laughter.

His gaze was again drawn to the center of the battle.

Barbarian Hu’s body had now swelled to a massive three or four *zhang* (approximately 10-13 meters). The upper half of his clothing was gone, revealing dense scales on his chest that shone like golden armor, radiating such brilliance that it was hard to look directly at him.

Even stranger, several silver ribbons of light coiled and danced around his massive body.

These light ribbons were dreamlike and ethereal, shifting unpredictably. Yet, they prevented Wan Tianming’s purple fire dragon, formed by his Heaven-Netting Art, from approaching even half a step. They always perfectly blocked the surging purple flames. Although Barbarian Hu boasted that his Heaven-Propping Demonic Art was unrivaled in the Starfall Sea, he would never be foolish enough to use it to directly withstand Wan Tianming's true flames.

Furthermore, Barbarian Hu’s hands were now adorned with a pair of dull black iron gauntlets, covered in several-inch-long spikes, making them look fierce and terrifying.

Wielding these gauntlets, Barbarian Hu clashed against a massive, dragon-like purple sword. With every punch, a gigantic golden hand flew from his gauntlet, forcefully knocking the great sword several *zhang* away.

Meanwhile, Wan Tianming, who was manipulating the great sword mid-air, grimly controlled two more purple flame dragons that soared around him, seeking a weakness in the silver light ribbons to trap his formidable enemy, Barbarian Hu.

On the other side, Tian Wuzi and Layman Qingyi clearly valued their own well-being. They kept a considerable distance, with one continuously unleashing their Azure Thornbird and personal magic artifacts to assault the other, while the latter relied on a Departure Turtle and a shimmering white short ruler to maintain an impenetrable defense.

Their fight was lukewarm, as if they were merely sparring or comparing skills.

The most intense battle, however, seemed to be between Patriarch Extreme Yin and the gaunt old man.

Within the large area where they fought, the wails of ghosts and cries of phoenixes intertwined, green shadows and black mists surged and swirled, forming a colossal vortex.

Occasionally, a few figures of Heavenly Capital Demonic Corpses would flash briefly outside, or several thick green vines would violently surge out of the vortex, seemingly indicating an unusually fierce struggle.

As for the mutated Three-Eyed Spirit Leopard, highly valued by the demonic cultivators, it was locked in a constant struggle and chase with the white Frost Dragon.

The Frost Dragon was clearly at a disadvantage, forced to fly erratically in the sky by the Three-Eyed Leopard’s mutated yellow light.

Whenever the white frosty light it spat out encountered the yellow light, it instantly transformed into ordinary stone fragments, utterly unable to approach the leopard.

Nevertheless, it managed to somewhat restrain the mutated Three-Eyed Leopard, preventing it from having the leisure to attack the three righteous cultivators. From the looks of it, the Frost Dragon could hold out on its own for a while longer.

Upon seeing this, a strange feeling arose in Han Li’s heart.

The cultivators’ battle was unusually lively, with magic artifacts flying everywhere and secret arts being unleashed wildly. Yet, it didn’t feel like a life-or-death struggle to him; it was more like a martial arts competition.

Was this what battles between Nascent Soul stage cultivators were like?

Han Li pondered in doubt.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he glanced at Xuangu again.

Xuangu’s impassive face now held a hint of a sneer. But he immediately sensed Han Li’s gaze; his expression hardened for a moment, then returned to its unperturbed state.

Han Li’s heart tightened. He vaguely felt as if he had grasped something important.

However, before he could think it through, the Void Heaven Cauldron at the cave entrance emitted a violent roar. This was followed by a grating, piercing screech.

Han Li was startled. He quickly turned his head towards the cave entrance and cautiously adopted a defensive stance.

He saw the blue light in the altar tremble. Then, a dragon’s roar emanated, and a fiery light shot out from the cave.

After rapidly circling over the altar, this light transformed into a two-headed flaming giant wolf that hovered in mid-air.

The wolf’s entire body was engulfed in fierce flames. Upon seeing the crowd, it pushed off with its limbs, ready to flee.

Upon witnessing this, both the righteous and demonic cultivators, who had been locked in combat, simultaneously paused in astonishment, ceasing their fight.

The closest individual, the old scholar in Confucian robes, immediately slapped the top of his head. A large, green-glowing hand shot out from his skull, sweeping directly towards the flaming wolf.

“Dream on! This treasure belongs to our sect!” Wan Tianming cried out anxiously upon seeing this. His body spun rapidly, splitting into two identical duplicates.

The purple flames on both Wan Tianming’s bodies intensified, and two purple rainbows merged into one, chasing after the large hand.

Barbarian Hu and the others also realized what was happening and quickly unleashed their divine abilities, sending streams of light towards the same target.

Multicolored lights instantly converged towards a single point.

The others were clearly a step slower than Layman Qingyi and Wan Tianming.

Especially the large hand that had started first, its escape light was incredibly fast. In an instant, the green hand was above the flaming wolf, reaching down to grab it.

Just as everyone thought the old scholar would succeed, the flaming wolf shook both its heads simultaneously, and a red-and-yellow light shield appeared out of thin air around its body.

The green hand’s grasp failed; with a muffled "thump," it was repelled.

The old scholar was surprised at first, but then a look of delight appeared on his face.

The green light intensified, and as the large hand fiercely grabbed again, the purple rainbow behind it caught up in a flash.

Seeing that it was still slightly behind the green hand and couldn’t prevent its success, the purple rainbow simply changed its target, transforming into a purple fire dragon and savagely biting at the large hand.

Upon seeing this, the old scholar in Confucian robes, who was manipulating the large hand to retrieve the treasure, inwardly cursed Wan Tianming for his treachery!

Although his Profound Transformation Great Hand, directly formed from a split of his divine sense, was extremely convenient and powerful, he absolutely dared not endure a direct blow from a fire dragon formed by the Heaven-Netting True Art.

After all, even if he obtained the treasure, his divine sense would be significantly damaged. He would never make such a losing deal!

Helplessly, the green-glowing hand abruptly halted its downward grab, changed direction, and moved to meet the purple fire dragon instead.

Green light and purple flames exploded.

During this momentary delay, Barbarian Hu, Tian Wuzi, and the others also caught up.

The cultivators surrounded the flaming wolf, yet they all simultaneously attacked their immediate opponents.

This time, their attacks were far more fierce and malicious than before. Various secret arts and dao techniques emerged endlessly. For a moment, the cultivators were entangled, and none could spare a hand to deal with the flaming wolf.

The flaming wolf, full of spiritual intelligence, seemed to understand the formidable power of the Nascent Soul old monsters. It sank its body and suddenly fled downwards.

Its escape direction was precisely towards where Xuangu, Han Li, and the others were standing.

Han Li, somewhat dumbfounded by what he saw, now mostly understood what was happening.

This two-headed flaming wolf must have been a treasure transformed from within the Void Heaven Cauldron. He just didn't know how it had managed to break out of the cauldron and flee before the cauldron itself had even been fully extracted.

Although he didn't know what kind of treasure it was or what its abilities were, just seeing that it had gained spiritual intelligence, transformed into a physical form, could withstand the green great hand’s attack, and could act independently, showed how incredibly rare it was.

Now, this treasure was actually rushing towards them, the Core Formation stage cultivators. Han Li, almost without thinking, swiftly slapped his storage pouch, and a wisp of white energy suddenly appeared in his hand.

Han Li grabbed into the white wisp with one hand, and an ancient, elegant flower basket appeared in his grasp.

Before Han Li could even cast his spell, two giant pythons, formed from black mist, shot out from below, not far away. They preemptively coiled around the flaming wolf, wrapping around it several times and instantly tightening their grip.

Han Li cursed inwardly. Glancing sideways, he saw that it was Wu Chou, whose face showed a smug expression as he formed hand seals, and the black pythons were clearly manifestations of his Dark Yin power.

Han Li’s face showed a hint of annoyance. He couldn't help but hesitate, wondering if he should try to snatch the treasure. After all, it hadn’t been fully claimed by the other party yet.

However, if he angered Patriarch Extreme Yin, who was known to protect his disciples, and the patriarch immediately attacked him after retrieving the treasure, that would be truly terrible. It might not be worth the cost!

Various thoughts raced through Han Li’s mind, but before he could weigh the pros and cons, Xuangu, who was nearby, unceremoniously made his move.

A cold glint flashed in Xuangu’s eyes. Without a word, he opened his mouth, and a beam of green light shot out. The green light instantly intensified, transforming into a gigantic jade-green silk net that enveloped both the black pythons and the flaming wolf.