Chapter 835: Meeting Up

Volume Six: Celestial Treasures

While Scholar Zhong and Lady Le were discussing the eerie nature of the Demonfall Valley, Han Li was already hundreds of miles away.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Several hours later, he smoothly flew to the cave entrance in the inner valley.

Taking out the Two-Form Ring once more, Han Li, protected by the artifact, entered the passage inside the cave.

It didn't take long to pass through the mile-long cave. Soon, Han Li emerged from the passage where the Arctic True Light had been, seeing the somewhat pale exit of the cavern.

A hint of joy in his heart, he quickened his pace.

A moment later, Han Li's vision brightened. He had reappeared in front of the cliff in the outer valley.

Han Li looked up at the dim sky. Although it still felt somewhat oppressive, it was vastly preferable to the almost omnipresent crimson glow of the inner valley.

His spiritual sense briefly swept the vicinity; nothing unusual occurred, and no other cultivators seemed to have discovered the place. Han Li let out a small sigh of relief, then his gaze shifted to the mountain wall at the cave entrance.

Without hesitation, he raised a hand, and a streak of green magic flew out. With a flash of spiritual light, it vanished into the stone wall.

Then, without a word, Han Li formed a spell seal with both hands, and a low incantation emanated from his mouth. A strange phenomenon occurred!

On the surface of the seemingly ordinary mountain wall, a layer of green light suddenly materialized, enveloping the entire wall. Then, small swarms of golden Gold-Devouring Beetles surged out from the light curtain, dropping silver crystal blocks of various sizes from the swarm. The largest were fist-sized, while the smallest were no bigger than a bean.

In the blink of an eye, a small pile accumulated on the ground before Han Li. Each piece shimmered like silver, though they were somewhat translucent.

These were precisely the refined crystals of Aura Silver Ore.

When the first few pieces fell, Han Li's expression remained calm. However, as the crystals on the ground numbered over a dozen, a look of surprise crossed his face.

"Han boy! This Aura Silver Ore vein is far more abundant than I originally imagined. It seems those mechanical puppets I've been researching can all be refined using this material!" Grandmaster Dayan's voice suddenly echoed in Han Li's mind, overflowing with uncontainable delight.

"Indeed. I didn't expect such a vast amount of Aura Silver Ore here either. This time, the harvest is truly extraordinary!" After the last swarm of Gold-Devouring Beetles had dropped their extracted Aura Silver crystals, Han Li looked at the small pile of sparkling silver on the ground and replied with delight.

He flicked his sleeve towards the ground. After a sweep of green light, the ground was empty. All the Aura Silver crystals had been instantly collected into Han Li's storage pouch with a spell.

Next, he let out a sharp whistle. The golden beetle swarm, which had been circling in the low air, swarmed down like a torrent, all diving into his spirit beast pouch.

After all this was done, Han Li patted his storage pouch with one hand, and a thumb-sized transparent orb appeared in his palm.

He opened his mouth, and a ball of green spiritual energy immediately sprayed onto the orb.

The originally clear and crystalline orb flickered with spiritual light, and a bean-sized green speck of light then materialized within it.

Han Li stared at the orb in his hand with flickering eyes for a while. He then slightly furrowed his brows, looked up to survey his surroundings, and discerned the direction.

Then, with a flicker of spiritual light around his body, he suddenly transformed into a green rainbow that shot skyward, flying off in a specific direction.

While in flight, Han Li consistently held the orb in one hand. Every time he traveled a certain distance, he would look down at it, then readjust his trajectory.

As a result, Han Li's speed was naturally not very fast; he flew unhurriedly along the way.

After flying for dozens of miles, while passing through a desolate area, Han Li suddenly let out a soft exclamation. His escape light paused, and he stopped.

Then, Han Li's body sank, and he descended, enveloped in green light.

When he was about thirty *zhang* above the desolate ground below, Han Li stopped again. His gaze flickered as he looked down.

He saw the corpse of a male cultivator, split into two halves, lying on the desolate ground directly below. Long-dried and blackened bloodstains dyed a large area nearby crimson. The body appeared to have been thoroughly looted; its storage pouch and magic treasures were gone.

"It seems someone finally couldn't resist making a move," Han Li murmured to himself after gazing at the corpse for a moment, letting out a soft sigh. He had just confirmed that there were no spatial rifts nearby; the cultivator must have been killed by others.

Han Li did not linger here, quickly departing to continue toward his destination.

Although he believed that, at present, only the two late-Nascent Soul stage cultivators posed a genuine threat to him in the valley, and the rest were probably not to be feared, there would still be considerable danger if a group of cultivators allied and specifically set traps for him.

This possibility was, of course, almost non-existent, but given Han Li's cautious nature, he couldn't help but increase his vigilance along the way. After about half a day, Han Li didn't encounter any ambushes, but he did discover two more corpses of unfortunate cultivators who had died in invisible spatial rifts.

Upon seeing their mutilated corpses, Han Li could only shake his head.

Guided by the spiritual light within the orb, Han Li finally appeared above a dense green forest.

Gazing at the seemingly boundless emerald green below and the towering trees, Han Li fell into thought. Suddenly, the hand holding the orb clenched into a fist. With a slight exertion of force, green light flashed on his fingers, and a crisp cracking sound followed.

The seemingly transparent orb was crushed into powder by Han Li's immense strength, vanishing into nothingness.

The speck of green spiritual light within the orb, however, did not dissipate. Instead, freed from its confinement, it floated gently before Han Li's eyes. Han Li then pointed a finger at this speck of spiritual light.

Instantly, the bean-sized green speck of light began to shoot rapidly in a certain direction.

Han Li, unhurriedly, followed closely behind the spiritual light, never leaving its side.

A quarter of an hour later, above a certain part of the dense forest, the spiritual light changed direction and flew diagonally downward.

A sharp glint flashed in Han Li's eyes, and he immediately followed, flying down.

When he reached the ground, the speck of spiritual light circled a towering giant tree a few times, then swiftly vanished into its trunk.

Witnessing this, Han Li also flew to the tree, his radiance receding as his feet touched the ground.

After briefly examining the tree, he raised his hand and struck the giant tree with a palm.

After a dull thud, a green light flashed where he struck, and a green talisman actually emerged from the tree. With swift hands and sharp eyes, Han Li pinched the talisman between two fingers and held it in his grip.

Looking at the talisman between his fingers, a faint smile appeared on Han Li's face. Then, he gently waved a finger.

With a soft whoosh, the talisman spontaneously ignited, turning into a streak of red light that shot through the air.

This time, Han Li remained standing still. Instead, he sat down cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes to recover some of the spiritual power consumed by his journey.

Not long after, the streak of red light landed in an inconspicuous corner of the dense forest. A moment later, a rainbow of light suddenly shot up from that spot, flying directly towards Han Li's location.

Before the dazzling rainbow even approached Han Li's meditating spot, Han Li sensed it and slowly opened his eyes, looking calmly towards the source of the rainbow.

After a short while, the dazzling rainbow flew to his location and circled once above Han Li, as if confirming his identity, before diving downward.

The dazzling rainbow vanished instantly upon touching the ground, revealing a beautiful female cultivator in a white dress before Han Li, like a celestial fairy.

Han Li's gaze naturally shifted to the woman.

"Miss Ziling. You arrived quite quickly!" Han Li's expression remained unusually calm.

"Quickly? I've been waiting here for you for several days, fellow Daoist. During that time, at least six or seven waves of cultivators have searched this forest, and they've been getting more frequent. If you hadn't arrived soon, Brother Han, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to remain in the forest."

Ziling's voice was pleasant to the ear but carried a hint of resentment as she walked gracefully towards him.

Han Li smiled upon hearing this. After glancing at Ziling's jade-like face, his gaze shifted as he continued:

"Miss Ziling, you've shown your true face; that's somewhat unexpected for me. I thought fellow Daoist Ziling would have arrived in disguise."

"When I first entered the valley, I wasn't using my true face. However, the treasure I used to conceal my appearance seems to be restricted in the Demonfall Valley; it gradually became ineffective. Since it could no longer provide concealment, I had no choice but to show my true face. What? Does Brother Han find my appearance crude and unworthy of your discerning eye?" Ziling pursed her lips into a charming smile as she spoke.

"Miss Ziling, you jest. All right, fellow Daoist, there's no need to tease me. Is this the first marked location you found?" Han Li first gave a wry smile, then his expression turned serious.

"That's right. It should be perfectly fine. The original mark seems to have been destroyed by the Ghost Spirit Sect. However, the fact that they managed to find this place and do something like that here only further proves that this spot is indeed significant," Ziling replied, her smile fading.

"In that case, let's follow the Ghost Spirit Sect's tracks first. That might save us a lot of trouble." As soon as Han Li heard the words "Ghost Spirit Sect," his eyebrows quirked up, and he said with a cold laugh.

"I'll do whatever Brother Han commands! A month ago, I placed our Spirit Sound Sect's unique mark on that Ghost Spirit Sect disciple. This mark isn't formed by spiritual power; instead, it's left by a certain colorless and odorless strange fragrance. Its range is limited, and it loses its effect within two months. However, it's currently very effective for tracking the Ghost Spirit Sect's whereabouts," Ziling said dutifully, a hint of cunning flashing in her eyes.

"You've gone to great lengths, Fellow Daoist Ziling. Let's depart. First, we'll catch up to the Ghost Spirit Sect's members, and then we'll overtake them before they find the remaining marks. That way, the Spirit Candle Fruit will be ours." Han Li didn't stand on ceremony. After nodding, he slowly rose to his feet.

From the dense forest, a silver-furred flying squirrel suddenly emerged. The quick-witted creature sniffed around in the air for a moment, then abruptly transformed into a silver streak and shot off in a certain direction.

Following it, two astonishing long rainbows flew out from the forest. After circling once, they trailed closely behind the silver streak, one in front and one behind, and vanished.