Chapter 494: Qianlan Pearl

Seeing the Asura’s Flame so formidable, Han Li’s expression shifted several times, and he drew a sharp breath.

However, once the gray-white flame had completely consumed Xuan Gu, it coalesced back into small sparks, gently floating in the air.

But at that moment, perhaps due to some anomaly caused by Xuan Gu’s death, all the descending gray-white sparks simultaneously emitted a black-green aura. Then, after some hair-thin black arcs of electricity flickered, the sparks instantly transformed into blue, reverting to the form of the Dry Blue Ice Flame.

Immediately, Han Li felt the space around him tighten, filled with a pale blue chill. A wave of icy cold assaulted him, and transparent thin ice began to form all over his body. It seemed as though the entire light barrier was about to be completely frozen.

Han Li was greatly alarmed. He quickly channeled a surge of spiritual power into the Lingxi Pendant, and a scorching white light pushed back the surrounding cold air, preventing it from coming within half a foot of him.

However, without Xuan Gu’s control, the Dry Blue Ice Flame appeared to truly unleash its power. In these brief moments, the entire platform had frozen into a massive iceberg, with only the white light around Han Li barely holding out.

However, the rapid depletion of his magic power made Han Li inwardly lament.

Now Han Li understood that the Dry Blue Ice Flame, controlled by Xuan Gu, had only exhibited a fraction of its true power during their earlier confrontation, whether due to Xuan Gu’s insufficient cultivation or because it hadn’t been fully refined.

If the Dry Blue Ice Flame had erupted with such terrifying power from the start, Xuan Gu wouldn’t have needed to fuse with any Asura’s Sacred Flame; it would have been enough to annihilate Han Li several times over. By that reasoning, the even more formidable Asura’s Sacred Flame couldn’t have displayed only that level of power either—it surely hadn’t revealed even a tenth or a fifth of its true might!

Han Li shuddered as he pondered these thoughts, quickly piecing together the truth of the matter. However, he had no intention of being unjustly vanquished by an ownerless Dry Blue Ice Flame after finally defeating Xuan Gu.

Gritting his teeth, Han Li pressed one hand against a spirit beast pouch at his waist. This pouch contained tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles.

At this moment, he could only rely on these insects’ devouring ability to see if he could risk escaping this predicament.

But whether he succeeded or not, these not fully evolved Gold Devouring Beetles would certainly be unable to withstand such terrifying extreme cold. One misstep, and the entire swarm would be wiped out. Yet, for the sake of his life, Han Li could no longer afford to worry about that.

As Han Li’s hand moved to open the spirit beast pouch, another anomaly occurred!

The Dry Blue Ice Flames floating around suddenly flickered several times and emitted a clear chiming sound, as if obeying some command. Simultaneously, they shot upward into the sky, all converging and merging into one.

Moments later, a hazy blue light mass appeared in the air. Within this light mass was a fist-sized blue ice pearl. The icy cold that had filled the platform instantly vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

Han Li, who had already opened the spirit beast pouch halfway, was stunned, but then his face lit up with joy. He didn’t care why the Dry Blue Ice Flame had undergone such a bizarre transformation—it had saved him from certain doom!

Now, the blue ice pearl slowly descended from the sky, passing right before Han Li’s eyes.

Han Li gazed at the ice pearl, a strange glint flashing in his eyes as he fell into deep thought. Suddenly, he raised a hand, and a slender arc of electricity shot from his palm, wrapping around the ice pearl and halting its descent.

The ice pearl showed no unusual changes, obediently held by the electric arc.

Seeing this, Han Li’s expression turned solemn, still not daring to let his guard down. Carefully, he flicked his wrist, and the golden electric arc pulled the ice pearl slowly toward him.

As the pearl halted about a foot away, Han Li hesitated for a moment. He reached out solemnly, enveloping his entire hand in a layer of cyan light before cautiously grasping forward.

Even through the thick layer of true essence, Han Li could clearly feel a slight coolness, but it was far from icy cold. It seemed that after condensing into this pearl, the Dry Blue Ice Flame had completely restrained its extreme cold.

Only then did Han Li truly feel at ease. He withdrew his true essence and pinched the pearl between three fingers, holding it up to his eyes for a closer look.

This blue pearl had a pale blue, hard outer layer, but inside, flickering flames seemed restless and unstable.

Han Li hesitated. The Dry Blue Ice Flame was a rare treasure in the world, possibly even more mysterious than the Void Heaven Cauldron.

Although he had no idea how to utilize or refine this ice flame now, abandoning it was absolutely out of the question. Having witnessed the sharpness of several demonic flames like the “Green Sun Demon Fire” and “Heavenly Capital Corpse Fire,” Han Li had long harbored a faint desire to possess a powerful demonic flame himself.

He had seen the power of the Dry Blue Ice Flame with his own eyes—it far surpassed those two demonic flames.

Such a benefit delivered to his doorstep, fulfilling his long-held wish, was something Han Li would never refuse. Even if it involved some risk, he was willing to accept it.

With this thought, Han Li unleashed pale golden arcs of electricity from his hand again. One after another, slender electric threads wrapped around the ice pearl, layer upon layer. Moments later, what appeared to be a golden silk ball rested in Han Li’s hand, with tiny electric sparks occasionally dancing across its surface.

Seeing this, Han Li finally felt truly relieved.

From his previous encounter with this ice flame, he knew that the Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning could barely restrain it.

If the ice pearl were to burst open again, these nets of Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning could temporarily bind it, buying him some time and preventing him from being suddenly overwhelmed by the Dry Blue Ice Pearl.

However, at this moment, the Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning within him was truly exhausted; not even a single spark could be produced.

But Han Li didn’t care about that. With an excited expression, he took out a square jade box from his storage pouch, carefully placed the pearl inside, and stored it properly.

Only then did Han Li have time to fly around the altar once, collecting the severely weakened Bloodjade Spider into a spirit beast pouch. The other spider corpse had already turned back into a motionless corpse!

But as Han Li flew past where Xuan Gu had been vanquished, his figure paused involuntarily. With a surprised expression, he reached out, and an object emitting a faint white light shot from the ground into his hand.

It was pure white like jade, only a few inches long. After a brief inspection, Han Li recognized it as a small section of a rib.

Yet, this rib hadn’t been incinerated by the Asura’s Sacred Flame and remained intact, which astonished Han Li.

He suddenly recalled the time in the cave when the old demon Xuan Gu had taken the “Void Heaven Fragment Map” from a rib.

“Could this rib also store something?” After this thought crossed his mind, Han Li didn’t hesitate to toss it into his storage pouch. Now wasn’t the time to examine it carefully; escaping this place as soon as possible was paramount.

Just as Han Li was about to fly toward the stone steps, he turned his head and inadvertently spotted the emerald small arrow lying motionless several yards away, as if completely devoid of spirit.

Han Li frowned, raised a hand, and shot out a cyan light that swept the treasure into his grasp.

After casually glancing at it a few times, Han Li was about to store it away when a strange “hissing” sound suddenly came from one of the spirit beast pouches at his waist.

Han Li’s heart stirred, and he couldn’t help but show a peculiar expression.

Frowning deeply in thought, he suddenly slapped that spirit beast pouch, and a yellow light shot out, circling once before revealing the figure of a small monkey—the Soul Devourer Beast that could consume souls and devour ghosts.

Then, Han Li opened his mouth and spat out a gray-black pearl into his other hand: the Soul Cry Pearl used to control the Soul Devourer Beast.

Initially, Han Li found the circumstances under which Yuan Yao had given him this pearl rather strange, so he had never truly begun refining it. However, erasing her divine sense from the pearl and using it to briefly control the Soul Devourer Beast was something he could easily do.

Holding the Soul Cry Pearl and staring intently at the emerald small arrow, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth, and a mass of cyan core flame enveloped the arrow, slowly refining it.

But after a while, the small arrow showed no reaction, as if it were lifeless.

A cold light flashed in Han Li’s eyes. He licked his lips and tossed the arrow into the air, then secretly issued an order to the Soul Devourer Beast. The beast snorted, and a yellow mist shot out, sweeping toward the small arrow in the air.

The previously motionless small arrow, upon seeing the yellow mist approach, suddenly flashed violently with green light several times, emitted a sharp screech, and transformed into an emerald streak shooting straight toward the stone steps, as if extremely terrified of the yellow mist!