Chapter 498: Qianlan Pearl

**Mortal Cultivation Saga, Volume 4: Winds Rise Overseas**

Seeing how powerful the Asura Fiend Fire was, Han Li's expression changed several times, and he gasped.

However, once the grayish-white flames had completely incinerated Xuan Gu, they re-condensed into tiny sparks and gently floated.

But at this moment, perhaps due to the anomaly caused by Xuan Gu's death, all the falling grayish-white sparks simultaneously emitted a black-green aura. Then, after some hair-thin black electrical arcs flashed, the sparks instantly turned blue, reverting to their Azure Ice Flame form.

Immediately, Han Li felt the surroundings tighten as the entire space filled with a light blue cold mist. A chilling sensation swept over him, and transparent thin ice began to form around his body, as if the entire light barrier was on the verge of being completely frozen.

Han Li was greatly alarmed!

He hastily poured spiritual power into his Spirit Rhinoceros Pendant, and a scorching white light instantly pushed away the surrounding cold mist, preventing it from approaching within half a foot.

However, without Xuan Gu controlling it, the Azure Ice Flame seemed to truly unleash its power at this moment. In just this short period, the entire high platform was frozen solid into a gigantic iceberg. Only Han Li, with the white light surrounding him, was struggling to resist.

But the rapid depletion of his magic power made Han Li secretly lament his predicament.

Only now did Han Li understand that the Azure Ice Flame, when controlled by Xuan Gu, had only exerted a small fraction of its true power when attacking him earlier, perhaps due to Xuan Gu's insufficient cultivation or because it hadn't been truly refined.

If, from the start, this Azure Ice Flame had unleashed such terrifying power, Xuan Gu wouldn't have needed to merge with any Asura Fiend Fire. It would have been more than enough to kill him several times over.

This being the case, the Asura Fiend Fire, which must be even more powerful, surely couldn't have displayed only that meager amount of power. It certainly hadn't revealed even ten or twenty percent of its true might!

Han Li, shocked, pondered these thoughts for a moment and had already figured out most of the truth.

However, he certainly wouldn't, after finally defeating Xuan Gu, be unjustly destroyed by an ownerless Azure Ice Flame in such a manner.

So, gritting his teeth, Han Li placed one hand on a spirit beast pouch at his waist.

This spirit beast pouch contained tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles.

At this moment, he could only rely on the devouring ability of these insects to see if he could risk breaking free. But regardless of whether he succeeded in escaping, these not-yet-fully evolved Gold Devouring Beetles certainly couldn't withstand such terrifying extreme cold. One slip, and they would all be wiped out!

But now, for the sake of his life, Han Li couldn't worry about such considerations.

Han Li's hand moved, about to open the mouth of the spirit beast pouch.

But then, another anomaly occurred!

The Azure Ice Flames floating around him simultaneously flickered rapidly several times, emitting a clear ringing sound. As if receiving a command, they all began shooting upwards. All the ice flames condensed and merged into a single entity at a certain point.

A moment later, a blue light mass appeared in the air. Within this light mass, a fist-sized blue ice bead emerged. Meanwhile, the icy cold mist that had previously filled the high platform instantly vanished without a trace, completely dissipating, as if it had never been there.

Han Li, who had already half-opened the spirit beast pouch, froze, but then a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.

He didn't care why the Azure Ice Flame underwent such a bizarre transformation. This had allowed him to escape a grave danger!

Now, the blue ice bead slowly descended from the sky, falling directly past Han Li's eyes.

Han Li gazed at the ice bead. A strange glint flashed in his eyes, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

Suddenly, he raised a hand. A faint electrical arc, remaining within his body, shot out from his hand, instantly wrapped around the ice bead, and controlled its downward trajectory.

No anomaly occurred with the ice bead. It obediently allowed itself to be pulled by the electrical arc.

Seeing this, Han Li's expression became solemn. He still didn't dare to be careless in the slightest.

He carefully flicked his wrist, and the golden electrical arc, binding the ice bead, slowly moved it towards him.

Gazing at the spherical bead that had stopped about a foot away, Han Li showed a hint of hesitation.

With a serious expression, he reached out a hand. A layer of green light completely enveloped his entire palm, and only then did he cautiously reach forward to grasp it.

Although separated by thick true essence, Han Li could clearly feel it was somewhat cool, but by no means chillingly cold. It was as if, after the Azure Ice Flames condensed into this bead, they had completely contained their extreme cold without a single trace escaping.

This being the case, Han Li finally felt truly relieved.

He withdrew his true essence, pinching the bead with three fingers, and brought it closer to his eyes for a careful look.

This blue bead had a pale blue, hard outer layer, but inside, flickering flames of light shone unsteadily, appearing somewhat unstable.

Han Li hesitated for a moment. This Azure Ice Flame was a rare treasure in the world. It was even highly possible that it was a secret treasure surpassing the Sky-Void Cauldron.

Although he currently had no idea how to utilize or refine this ice flame, abandoning it was absolutely out of the question.

One must know that after Han Li had successively witnessed the sharpness of several devilish secret flames like the "Azure Sun Devil Flame" and the "Heavenly Capital Corpse Flame," he had long harbored a faint desire to possess a powerful devil flame himself.

He had witnessed the power of this Azure Ice Flame with his own eyes. It was definitely far superior to those two devil flames.

Such a benefit, delivered right to his doorstep, capable of fulfilling his long-held desire, Han Li would never refuse it. Even if it meant taking a slight risk, Han Li was willing to accept it.

Thinking of this, the pale golden electrical arc in Han Li's hand burst forth again. Then, one after another, thin electrical threads wrapped around the ice bead, layer after layer.

A moment later, a sphere resembling a golden wire ball appeared in Han Li's hand. However, tiny electrical sparks occasionally flickered on this sphere.

Seeing this, Han Li truly felt at ease.

After his previous confrontation with this ice flame, he also knew that the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder could barely restrain this fire.

If this ice sphere were to burst open again, the electrical arc net of the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder could temporarily restrain it, buying him some time. He wouldn't have to fear a sudden backlash from this Azure Ice Bead.

However, as he was now, the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder within his body was truly depleted; not even a single electrical arc could be discharged.

But Han Li didn't care about this at all. With an excited expression, he took out a square jade box from his storage pouch, carefully placed the sphere inside, and then properly put it away.

Only then did Han Li have time to fly around the altar, placing the gravely weakened Blood Jade Spider back into his spirit beast pouch.

The other spider puppet corpse had already reverted to a motionless corpse, not moving at all!

But as Han Li flew past the spot where Xuan Gu was destroyed, his body involuntarily paused. With a look of surprise, he extended a hand and beckoned. A faintly glowing white object on the ground flew into his hand.

The object was as white as jade, only a few inches long. Han Li recognized it with a quick glance. It was just a small section of a rib bone.

What surprised Han Li was that this rib bone had not been refined into ash by the Asura Fiend Fire and had remained intact. This greatly astonished Han Li.

He immediately recalled how, that day in the underground cavern, Old Devil Xuan Gu had taken out the "Sky-Void Fragment Map" from a section of a rib bone.

"Could this rib bone also be storing something?" After this thought flashed through his mind, Han Li no longer hesitated and tossed it into his storage pouch. Now was not the time to carefully examine this item; it was crucial to escape this place as soon as possible.

Han Li was about to fly towards the stone steps, but he inadvertently tilted his head and saw the emerald green small arrow motionless several feet away, as if completely devoid of spiritual essence.

Han Li frowned. He raised a hand, and a wave of green light shot out from it, instantly sweeping the treasure into his hand.

After casually glancing at it a few times, just as Han Li was about to put the treasure away, a strange "hissing" sound suddenly came from one of the spirit beast pouches at his waist.

Han Li's heart stirred. He couldn't help but show a peculiar expression.

After pondering for a moment, his brows furrowed, he suddenly slapped that spirit beast pouch. A yellow light shot out from the pouch, and after circling once, the figure of a small monkey appeared. It was precisely the Soul-Devouring Beast, capable of devouring souls and ghosts.

Han Li then opened his mouth again, spitting out a grayish-black bead that landed in his other palm. It was the "Soul-Calling Bead" used to control the Soul-Devouring Beast.

Han Li had always found Yuan Yao's giving him this bead somewhat strange, so he had never truly begun refining it. However, erasing the other party's spiritual consciousness from the bead and using it directly to temporarily control the Soul-Devouring Beast was something he could still easily accomplish.

Holding the Soul-Calling Bead in his hand and staring intently at the emerald green small arrow, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth. A ball of green alchemic flame instantly enveloped the arrow and began to slowly refine it.

But after a moment, the small arrow still showed no reaction at all, as if it were a dead object.

A cold glint flashed in Han Li's eyes. After licking his lips, he tossed the arrow into the air, then secretly gave the Soul-Devouring Beast a command.

The Soul-Devouring Beast immediately snorted, and a wave of yellow mist shot out, sweeping directly towards the small arrow in the air.

The small arrow, which had been motionless, upon seeing the yellow mist approach, suddenly flickered with green light several times. Then, with a sharp whistle, it transformed into a streak of emerald light and shot directly towards the stone steps. It seemed utterly terrified of the yellow mist!