Chapter 884: Stone Tablet Fragment

Chapter 6: Heavenly Spiritual Treasure

Just as before, Han Li silently descended into the dark abyss, protected by the golden barrier.

As the thunderous roars subsided, the golden light of the Devilbane Divine Thunder gradually faded into the darkness, eventually vanishing without a trace.

Meanwhile, on the sea surface, Zhiyang and the others were conversing.

“Brother Zhiyang!” Wei Wuya asked Reverend Zhiyang, hands clasped behind his back. “Do you truly believe Fellow Daoist Han’s Devilbane Divine Thunder isn’t enough for a round trip, as was said?”

“Brother Wei, what do you mean by that?” the Daoist asked, his expression darkening with displeasure. “Are you implying that this poor Daoist’s previous words were false?”

“Haha! Reverend, please don’t misunderstand, I absolutely didn’t mean that,” Wei Wuya said with a slight smile. “It’s just that I felt Fellow Daoist Han agreed a bit too readily, so I was merely asking out of curiosity.”

“If that’s the case, then this poor Daoist isn’t entirely clear either,” Zhiyang said faintly, his expression softening. “However, it is true that the deeper one ventures into the demonic abyss, the greater the consumption of magical power. To safely make a round trip, the amount of Devilbane Divine Thunder required would indeed be astonishing. I don’t believe Fellow Daoist Han truly possesses such an abundance of divine thunder to deploy. Perhaps he has some other divine ability that can temporarily resist the demonic energy, besides the Devilbane Divine Thunder.”

“When you put it that way, it’s quite possible,” Wei Wuya said with a smile, then glanced to the side, looking at the nearby Old Devil Hehuan. “After all, the cultivation world is full of strange techniques and secret arts! But no matter what, if this tribulation can be resolved smoothly, it’s always a good thing.”

The black-robed man had been watching the center of the whirlpool with his arms crossed, his face expressionless and silent.

A momentary silence fell among the three.

At a depth of three thousand zhang within the demonic energy, a golden barrier, flickering with electric light, hung motionless in the air.

Inside the barrier, Han Li gravely examined the contents of the jade slip, which contained the location of the formation plate.

After a moment, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense and glanced around.

It seemed the inky blackness had reached the very bottom of the abyss, making it impossible to see very far.

Han Li’s brows furrowed slightly. Suddenly, he opened his mouth, and a small sword, about an inch long, shot out.

A golden light flashed, and the small sword shot out of the barrier, while a thin arc of electricity appeared on its blade. After circling once, it flew above Han Li’s head, then spun rapidly amidst the electric light, transforming into a peculiar golden light wheel about an inch in size.

From below, Han Li formed a hand seal and pointed a finger at the light wheel above his head. The light wheel paused, then transformed into a golden streak and shot away.

Han Li moved without hesitation, following closely with his barrier.

After flying horizontally for several hundred zhang, the golden small sword ahead suddenly changed direction and abruptly shot downwards.

With a muffled thud, the flying sword struck something, embedding itself halfway and stopping.

Seeing this scene, a hint of joy flashed across Han Li’s face, and he appeared about a zhang above the small sword.

Wherever his gaze fell, the surroundings were still pitch-black, but the faint light flickering from the electric arc on the small sword allowed him to see a few things clearly.

Han Li discovered that where the small sword was embedded seemed to be a flat boulder.

After a moment of contemplation, Han Li raised both hands, pressing his palms simultaneously against the barrier wall.

The electrical net on the barrier suddenly became dazzlingly bright, and simultaneously, several golden arcs, as thick as a bowl’s rim, shot out from the barrier, transforming into several golden pythons that coiled and circled nearby.

Within a radius of over ten zhang, all the demonic energy was completely swept away after the golden pythons flew past.

Under the illumination of the spiritual light, the 'boulder' below was clearly revealed.

Han Li took a closer look, and his expression froze.

It was no ‘boulder’ at all, but clearly a platform resembling an altar. It appeared to be quite large in area, as its full extent could not be seen even within the golden barrier’s illuminated range.

Han Li felt a little astonished.

The location of the formation core, where the formation plate was to be buried, as determined by those formation masters, turned out to be such a place. This made things quite interesting.

Han Li immediately activated his golden barrier and swiftly circled the altar, finally getting a rough impression of the platform.

It was a square platform, about an mu in size. Both its design and the patterns inscribed on its surrounding stone walls indicated its extreme antiquity; it was undoubtedly built by ancient cultivators.

When Han Li flew back to his original position, he waved at the small sword still embedded in the ground. Immediately, the sword transformed into a golden streak and shot back to him.

Han Li made a quick estimation in his mind and immediately flew towards the center of the platform.

A moment later, several white lights flickered in the distance.

His heart stirred, and his flight speed increased slightly. He finally saw clearly the situation at the center of the platform: a stone stele, shattered into several pieces, lay quietly there, with only a small part of its base still standing.

His gaze flickered as he examined the stele’s remnants.

Although the stele was destroyed, it was still possible to see some fragmented runes inscribed on it that he couldn’t understand. The stele was made of some unknown material, as its spiritual essence seemed undissipated, with milky white spiritual light flickering on it from time to time.

“Could this be something as precious as Golden Thunder Bamboo?”

Han Li strangely thought so. He then made a grabbing motion in the air towards the ground, and a fist-sized fragment of the stone stele flew towards him. His five fingers flashed with spiritual light, and his entire palm, enveloped in green light, grasped the stone fragment. He lowered his head and gazed at it intently.

It was dull gray and unremarkable. If not for the occasional threads of spiritual light emanating from the stone fragment, Han Li truly couldn’t have seen anything special about it.

Han Li examined it repeatedly from all angles. His brow twitched, and his five fingers suddenly exerted a powerful force upon the object.

A strange scene unfolded.

The stone fragment did not prove indestructible or easily turn into a pile of stone powder as Han Li had imagined. Instead, after flashing with white light a few times, it suddenly became incredibly soft, and his five fingers actually sank deeply into the stone.

Han Li was startled.

“What is this?” Han Li asked, his brow furrowed as he transmitted a message to Grand Exalted Dayan. “Senior Dayan, do you know this object?”

“No, this old man has never seen this thing,” Grand Exalted Dayan’s lazy voice replied. “It’s not surprising; there were plenty of strange materials in ancient times, and no one could possibly recognize everything. However, you might as well throw a piece in for me to see. This old man is idle, so it’s a good opportunity to study it a bit.”

Han Li didn’t think much of it. With a backhand toss, he threw the stone fragment towards the bamboo slip behind him. After the bamboo slip flashed with spiritual light, a streak of white mist shot out, enveloping the strange stone fragment and pulling it inside the slip.

The moment Han Li had taken the stone fragment, he had noticed from the fracture marks that the stele had not been destroyed long ago. It seemed the stele was originally an important object used to suppress the formation core, which was why it was also destroyed when something went wrong with the formation. Based on this alone, the material of this stele absolutely couldn’t be ordinary.

Thinking of this, Han Li didn’t stand on ceremony. After a sweep of green mist, all other stele fragments were collected into his storage pouch. He then flicked his ten fingers repeatedly, and over a dozen streaks of green sword qi shot out, each striking the base of the stele, intending to shatter these materials and take them as well.

A series of thunderous sounds echoed, greatly to Han Li’s surprise. After a flash of green light, the sword qi silently sank into the base of the stele, vanishing without a trace. It had no effect whatsoever.

“Eh! That’s quite strange indeed.”

Han Li was startled. After a moment of hesitation, he no longer bothered with the remaining materials. Instead, he shifted his direction and unleashed several more streaks of sword qi.

Although the remaining Devilbane Divine Thunder was sufficient to last for a considerable time, Han Li dared not linger long in such a dangerous place and prepared to set up the formation plate.

A series of muffled thuds reverberated, and a large pit, about a zhang deep, appeared beside the stone stele.

Han Li, without changing his expression, flipped his palm. After a flash of white light, the exquisitely crafted formation plate appeared in his hand. Han Li, without hesitation, flicked his wrist, and the formation plate instantly transformed into a ball of white light, flying into the deep pit.

He formed a hand seal with both hands, and immediately, the formation plate in the pit began to flicker with spiritual light. Han Li stared gravely at the formation plate, not blinking an eye.

A moment later, the formation plate emitted a clear ringing sound, followed by a milky white light pillar, as thick as an arm, that abruptly shot up from the formation plate and instantly vanished into the high sky.

Han Li felt a sense of relief.

Since everything with the formation plate was normal, this indicated he had found the right place, and burying it here was fine.

Thinking of this, Han Li’s expression relaxed. He swept his sleeve, and a surge of faint green powerful wind gushed forth.

After the powerful wind, all the surrounding rubble was forcefully swept into the large pit.

He cast a magical incantation. The rubble pile, which had been somewhat bulging, emitted a faint white light amidst Han Li’s low incantations. Then, under the effect of his magical power, the scattered stones began to melt and condense into a single entity.

A moment later, the surface of the large pit became exceptionally flat and smooth, as if there had never been a large pit there.

He walked around the original pit’s location a few times. After seeing that everything was normal and there was nothing unusual, Han Li nodded, showing a satisfied expression.

After casually flinging out a few hand seals outwards, they happened to strike the several golden electrical pythons hovering nearby.

Several explosive sounds rang out, and the golden pythons turned into specks of golden starlight, vanishing into thin air without a trace. The demonic energy that had been isolated in the distance immediately surged forward again, swirling and enveloping the area.

Han Li pondered for a moment. Immediately, the golden barrier on his light shield flickered, and he was about to rise into the air to fly back to the sea surface.

But just then, the voice of Grand Exalted Dayan came from his spiritual sense.

“Young man, wait!”

“Senior, do you have any instructions?” Han Li was startled. After pausing his movement, he did not immediately leave the platform.

“Since this is the location of the formation core, it should be where the demonic energy is most concentrated,” Grand Exalted Dayan said faintly. “And this demonic energy has been suppressed here since ancient times. It’s possible that several demonic marrow diamonds might have formed here. According to ancient texts, this kind of material is the only one for refining a supreme devilish treasure. Go check inside this platform and the nearby underground area to see if you can truly find this item.”

“Demonic marrow diamonds!” A strange look appeared on Han Li’s face. After thinking for a moment, he didn’t hesitate to pat his storage pouch with one hand, and a yellowish wolf-head jade ruyi appeared in his hand.

This was the ancient treasure where Silvermoon had once resided. Although its artifact spirit was gone, it could still perform simplified Earth Evasion arts, though not with the miraculous proficiency Silvermoon had achieved.