“Brother Jin, what do you mean by following me so quietly all the way here? Have I somehow offended you?” The speaker was none other than the man with the upturned eyebrows who had competed with Han Li for the spiritual land. Standing opposite him was the rotund Jin, who had also appeared at the Jade Pavilion.
Despite their seemingly amicable relationship earlier, the two now appeared on the verge of a violent confrontation.
“Brother Weng, what are you talking about? I merely happened to pass by and saw you lingering here, so I thought I’d come over to greet you,” the plump Jin replied with an innocent expression.
“Happened to pass by? Greet me? Brother Jin, do you take me for a fool? Who would come to such a remote place just to say hello? And why would you need to use concealment techniques to follow me for tens of thousands of miles?” the man with the upturned eyebrows retorted coldly.
“Haha, that’s precisely what I find strange. Why would Brother Weng leave his cave to come here instead of cultivating? If I recall correctly, this is the very spiritual land you fought so desperately to claim,” Jin said, his small eyes narrowing with a hint of cunning.
“Hmph, must I explain my whereabouts to you?” The man’s expression darkened.
“Brother Weng, there’s no need for anger. This land already has an owner. I merely followed you out of concern that you might act rashly and cause irreparable trouble. If you’re searching for something here, why not share it with me? I might be able to assist you,” Jin said with a chuckle, clearly probing for information.
The man snorted but remained silent, though a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
Suddenly, a faint emerald light flickered in the void behind Jin, and a slender green thread materialized out of nowhere. With a tremble, it transformed into a large emerald net that descended silently, without even a whisper of wind, like a ghostly apparition.
Jin seemed oblivious, still wearing a forced smile as he faced the man.
The man showed no outward reaction, but inwardly, he was elated. His concealed hand moved within his sleeve, summoning a translucent blue flying dagger. He was ready to strike the moment Jin was ensnared.
But just as the net was about to land on Jin’s head, something astonishing happened.
With a muffled *thud*, a burst of spiritual light erupted from Jin’s hairpin, coalescing into a golden radiance that formed a massive golden hand. The hand caught the green net mid-air.
Golden and green lights intertwined, emitting strange crackling sounds.
“Golden Fiend, it’s you?”
“Elder Ming, so you’ve personally intervened as well.”
Two distinct voices emerged simultaneously from the green and golden lights—one sounding surprised, the other confident.
The golden hand and the green net then separated, retracting into the air before transforming into a small jade flood dragon and a half-foot-tall golden figure, respectively.
The flood dragon was an avatar refined by the man’s master. The golden figure wore a pale golden Daoist robe, carried a miniature wooden sword on its back, and had a blurred face, making its features indiscernible. Only an impression of age could be vaguely sensed.
“Soul-Splitting Art! Elder Ming, you’ve even sent out a soul fragment meant to evade heavenly tribulations. Aren’t you afraid of losing it and failing your next tribulation?” the jade flood dragon said coldly, its eyes fixed on the golden figure.
“Heh, there’s no need for your concern, Brother Ming. The legendary treasures of the Thousand Treasures Sage have been renowned among our two races for millennia. Acquiring just two or three of them would ensure my survival in the next tribulation. Didn’t you also send an avatar?” the golden figure replied with a chuckle, utterly unperturbed.
“How do you know about the Thousand Treasures Sage?” the flood dragon demanded sharply.
Meanwhile, Jin and the man with the upturned eyebrows stood motionless, not daring to interrupt.
“How I know is none of your concern. But rest assured, only you and I are aware of this. No third party will hear of it. Why don’t we cooperate to retrieve the treasures together?” the golden figure suggested with a sly grin.
“Cooperate? If you truly knew the specifics, why would you need me?” the flood dragon sneered.
“True, my information is vague, obtained through my disciple. But if Brother Ming knows the details, that’s all that matters,” the golden figure said leisurely.
“You’re threatening me!” the flood dragon’s voice turned icy.
“Perish the thought! I propose cooperation because I have something that could aid your search. We can split the treasures evenly, preserving harmony. Isn’t that ideal?” The golden figure shook its head and waved its hands dismissively.
“You— Wait, someone’s coming!” The flood dragon’s anger was cut short as its expression changed abruptly. It looked up sharply toward a spot in the sky.
The golden figure also glanced in the same direction, its face darkening.
“It seems the owner of this land has returned. Timing-wise, it’s about right. You’d best decide quickly whether to cooperate. If this escalates and alerts the old monsters of Tianyuan City, we’ll both leave empty-handed. According to city rules, any treasures found on a spiritual land belong to its owner,” the golden figure said, its tone now grave.
The flood dragon’s eyes flickered before it exhaled deeply and said reluctantly, “Fine, I’ll agree to temporary cooperation. But an even split is out of the question. We’ll discuss the terms elsewhere. We can’t stay here. My disciple mentioned that although this man is only at the Deity Transformation stage, his spiritual sense is formidable. We can’t risk detection.”
“Excellent! Then let’s go.” The golden figure nodded in satisfaction. With a wave of its hand, a small purple umbrella appeared.
A gentle shake transformed the umbrella into a purple halo that enveloped both the figure and Jin below. In a flash, they vanished.
“The Violet Maple Umbrella! Golden Fiend actually brought such a treasure. He came prepared! Let’s go too.” The flood dragon was momentarily stunned before it snorted in frustration. It then spat out a small, five-colored banner.
The banner spun rapidly, conjuring a multicolored cloud that swallowed both the flood dragon and the man before diving into the ground and disappearing.
The area fell silent once more, as if no one had ever been there.
A short while later, a streak of azure light shot across the distant sky. Within the light was an ordinary-looking young man—none other than Han Li.
As the light reached the depression, it circled the area several times before dissipating, revealing Han Li hovering in mid-air. His eyes swept the surroundings, a trace of suspicion flickering across his face.
He had faintly sensed a ripple of spiritual energy here, fleeting but unmistakable.
The golden figure and the flood dragon, though at the Void Refinement stage, were merely a soul fragment and an avatar, respectively. Han Li, having cultivated the Great Development Art, possessed spiritual sense surpassing even peak Deity Transformation cultivators, nearly matching early Void Refinement experts.
Thus, despite their swift actions, Han Li had detected the anomaly and sped up his approach—though it seemed he was still a step too late.
Expanding his spiritual sense, Han Li meticulously scanned the surrounding hundreds of miles but found nothing.
His expression darkened.
After a long silence, Han Li suddenly let out a cold laugh. Wrapped in azure light, he transformed into a streak of green and shot toward his cave.
Meanwhile, the flood dragon and the golden figure, now tens of thousands of miles away, remained unaware of their exposure. They gathered on a remote hill to discuss their collaboration.
Upon returning to his cave, Han Li immediately activated all its defensive formations. After organizing his belongings, he entered the refining chamber.
He remained there for three days and nights. When he emerged, he carried a peculiar octagonal silver disk and a storage bracelet filled with countless pea-sized jade beads, each inscribed with one or several silver runes—celestial scripts from the Immortal Realm.
These were the “Myriad Surveillance Pearls,” a unique artifact Han Li had devised based on his study of the Golden Jade Book’s fragmentary pages in the human realm. While simple to craft and lacking offensive or defensive capabilities, when combined with the book’s talisman techniques, they could monitor vast areas centered around each bead. Any spiritual fluctuations within range, even millions of miles away, would be detected by the disk.
However, simply burying the pearls wouldn’t suffice. The disk had to be placed within a special formation, and the pearls had to be arranged in a complex, interconnected pattern around it.
The formation’s scale depended on the number of pearls deployed. Monitoring an entire spiritual land would require an exorbitant amount of spirit stones—so costly that even Han Li’s wealth would be depleted within a few years if the formation ran continuously.
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