The Emerald Flood Dragon in the other direction naturally sensed Han Li’s actions. Frowning, it suddenly turned to the man with the drooping eyebrows beside it and asked a few questions.
The man’s expression turned bitter as he hurriedly explained.
After listening, the Emerald Flood Dragon’s face darkened.
At that moment, a golden mist swept in from another direction, flickering a few times before stopping in front of the Emerald Flood Dragon. The radiance then condensed, revealing the golden-robed fatty, above whose head floated a tiny golden figure with a calm expression.
“Brother Ming, are you really letting that kid go just like that? What if he reports our treasure hunt to the city’s Celestial Guards? That could be a minor nuisance,” the tiny figure said, sweeping its gaze over the Emerald Flood Dragon.
“Fellow Daoist Jin, you said it yourself—just a minor nuisance. Why should I go out of my way? Searching for treasures on someone else’s spiritual land isn’t a big deal as long as we aren’t caught red-handed by the law-enforcing Celestial Guards. The secrecy earlier was only because the name of Thousand Treasures Venerable is too renowned, and I didn’t want word to spread. Now that we’ve gained nothing, it matters even less. Without any real conflict, I have no interest in offending ascended cultivators. Besides, my disciple mentioned that this man seems acquainted with Zhao Wugui. That Celestial Guard himself isn’t much, but his master is the ‘Thunder Luo True Being’ from the Elder Council. Heh, if Brother Jin wants to trouble that kid, I can lend you a hand,” the Emerald Flood Dragon replied coldly after a brief silence.
“I have no grudge against this junior, so why would I trouble him? Since there’s no treasure here, I’ll take my leave first. We can catch up another time,” the golden figure chuckled, its eyes darting shrewdly.
With a cupped-fist salute, it transformed into golden mist, enveloping the fatty and swiftly flying toward the horizon without even glancing at the spatial storm.
“Hmph, that old monster was clearly tricked by that kid in the spatial node and had no choice but to bring him out. Now he wants to use me as a blade to settle his grudge. What a clever scheme. But since I have no life-or-death feud with that kid, I won’t play his game. Disciple, let’s go too. Now that a spatial storm has appeared here, the Celestial City’s enforcement team will surely take notice. Though they won’t arrive this quickly, we must still be wary of nearby Celestial Guards. If they happen to stumble upon us, it’ll be troublesome. This time, not only did we fail to obtain any treasure, but my avatar was also damaged. What rotten luck!” the Emerald Flood Dragon muttered to itself with a cold snort after watching the golden mist vanish into the distance.
With that, the dragon’s body elongated, transforming into a streak of emerald light that shot off in another direction.
The man with the drooping eyebrows hastily turned into a blue streak and followed.
As the two streaks of light disappeared beyond the horizon, the only sound left was the rumbling of the spatial storm.
Meanwhile, Han Li was already standing in the hall of his cave abode, arms crossed as he stared at the silver screen before him.
Through the surveillance of the Myriad Eye Pearl, he confirmed that the two Void Refinement cultivators had indeed left his spiritual land, and he inwardly sighed in relief.
On the silver screen, a massive deep-yellow light flickered incessantly—the spatial storm detected by the Myriad Eye Pearl.
Unlike Ming the Demon and the others, who could leave without a care, Han Li had to monitor the storm to prevent any accidents that might destroy his land.
Fortunately, based on his experience with spatial nodes, such storms caused by spatial collapse were usually short-lived.
Sure enough, after about an hour, the yellow light on the screen gradually dimmed before vanishing completely after another quarter-hour.
Seeing this, Han Li exhaled deeply, finally at ease.
Just as he was about to deactivate the spirit stone-consuming formation, his body suddenly stiffened, and his expression changed drastically.
At the spot where the yellow light had disappeared, a tiny gray dot had emerged.
This dot was much smaller and fainter, flickering as if it might vanish at any moment. Yet, as soon as it appeared, it began drifting slowly in a certain direction.
Han Li’s heart sank. Could a remnant soul of that demon have escaped the spatial storm? Though he didn’t know what the so-called “Jade Bone Demon” was, if even Void Refinement cultivators avoided it, it must be terrifying. If it lingered nearby, he’d never have peace.
Fortunately, the escaping entity’s spiritual pressure was extremely weak, likely severely injured. Eliminating it now shouldn’t be difficult.
Without hesitation, Han Li transformed into a streak of azure light and flew toward the site of the vanished spatial storm.
Moments later, he hovered above the crater left by the storm.
The spatial storm was indeed gone, along with the barren stone hill, leaving behind a massive pit over a hundred zhang in diameter.
Han Li circled the pit twice but found nothing unusual.
Frowning, he halted mid-air, closed his eyes, and unleashed his formidable spiritual sense—comparable to a Void Refinement cultivator’s—sweeping across a thousand li in all directions, meticulously inspecting every inch of land.
Soon, he let out a soft “Hmm” and reopened his eyes, his expression odd.
After a brief consideration, he let out a sharp whistle, and his body erupted with azure radiance as he shot toward a certain direction.
After traveling just over three hundred li, he stopped above a dense forest.
The light dissipated, revealing Han Li with his hands behind his back, his eyes glowing blue as he stared downward.
Suddenly, he snorted and reached out with one hand, summoning a massive cyan claw that descended upon a specific spot in the forest.
The claw, buzzing ominously, covered an area of over ten zhang.
A streak of gray light shot out from beneath the claw, fleeing in another direction.
Han Li smirked, his other hand flicking five crimson threads toward the gray light.
The threads vanished momentarily before reappearing, coiling tightly around the gray light.
The gray light pulsed erratically, struggling to break free, but Han Li activated the threads, igniting them in scarlet flames that swiftly purified the gray light, revealing a pristine white object.
With a wave, Han Li summoned the object—a skeletal hand, its surface faintly inscribed with golden runes.
This was one of the Jade Bone Demon’s claws, now shrunk to human size.
After a brief examination with his spiritual sense and Spirit Eyes, Han Li was startled.
The claw was a powerful magical treasure, yet his Spirit Eyes confirmed it was indeed human bone—a sinister artifact crafted from a skeleton.
The gray light had been the treasure’s nascent sentience, now erased by his flames.
But what truly shocked him was the thumb of the claw, which concealed a milky-white jade slip the size of a finger, inscribed with shimmering silver characters—Silver Ku Script.
“Golden Jade Book!” Han Li murmured, recognizing it as one of the seventy-two outer pages of the legendary tome.
Though he only glimpsed a few lines, it seemed to detail artifact-forging techniques.
Though he maintained a calm facade, his heart surged with excitement.
But now wasn’t the time for study.
Swiftly, he sealed the claw with several restriction talismans, stored it in a jade box, and flew back to his cave.
Unbeknownst to him, his swift departure was fortunate.
Shortly after he returned, a teleportation array materialized above the spatial storm’s site, and a golden ark emerged, carrying two golden-armored Celestial Guards—a middle-aged man with a long beard and a slender, beautiful woman.
“The spatial fluctuations match the readings from the Cosmic Disk, but the range is small—likely a random anomaly,” the woman remarked coolly.
“Indeed, not one of the dangerous spatial storms. It was brief, or more than just a hill would’ve been erased,” the man replied, scanning the area with his spiritual sense.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage