Chapter 1736: Hunyuan Ruler

With a “bang,” the golden light exploded, and a stream of silver talismans shot out from the disk, scattering across the mountain peaks.

Under the flickering silver light, the talismans vanished into the rocks, swiftly tunneling through the mountain’s interior.

Han Li hovered silently in the air, his expression unreadable, making no further moves.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a resonant hum suddenly arose from the disk in the void below, followed by a brilliant golden radiance.

Seeing this, Han Li raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand toward the disk below. With a tremble, the disk shot upward, disappearing in a flash before reappearing eerily in his palm.

Han Li glanced down and saw a blinding light cluster forming on the disk’s surface.

His lips twitched slightly, and with a flash of yellow light around his body, he shot downward into the mountain, vanishing soundlessly and tunneling through the rock at an incredible speed.

In mere moments, his vision brightened as a massive cavern appeared mysteriously below.

A silver light cluster the size of a human head floated motionless in the center of the cavern—formed from the silver talismans that had earlier shot out from the disk.

As his light dissipated, Han Li appeared inside the cavern, his gaze swiftly sweeping the surroundings. He immediately spotted several winding passages connected to the space.

His expression flickered slightly before he strode toward one of the passages.

The passage was pitch-black, nearly impossible to see even an outstretched hand. But with a casual wave, several white-glowing crystals flew from Han Li’s sleeve, hovering above his head and illuminating the passage as if it were daylight.

After walking only a short distance, Han Li released his spiritual sense, scanning the uneven stone walls around him.

Moments later, his footsteps halted. He opened his mouth and spat out a streak of azure light, which struck the wall with a flash.

Under the sharp sword light, the wall split apart like tofu, revealing a half-foot-wide hole in an instant.

A strange “clang” echoed eerily from the hole, resounding clearly in the narrow passage.

Hearing this, a trace of delight appeared on Han Li’s face. He formed a hand seal with one hand and pointed toward the hole.

With a “whoosh,” a small azure sword shot back, its blade impaling a piece of black-purple ore of unknown origin.

“So it really is here. The reserves seem quite substantial. If I want to take it all, it’ll probably take a few extra days,” Han Li murmured to himself as he retrieved the sword and examined the ore in his hand.

Naturally, he had no intention of staying to mine it himself. With a flick of his wrist toward his storage bracelet, several glowing orbs flew out, materializing into puppets of various shapes before him.

These puppets, crafted during his time in the human realm, were of low grade but more than sufficient for menial mining labor.

Han Li then tapped his head, releasing his second Nascent Soul to oversee the puppets’ work in the cavern while he himself used Earth Evasion Technique to return to the mountaintop.

At that moment, Qu’er arrived from the lake’s surface, carrying tens of thousands of flying rainbow fish demon cores in a storage bracelet, which she handed to Han Li.

After inspecting them, he nodded in satisfaction, praised her briefly, and carefully stored the bracelet away.

“Master, Qu’er senses many spiritual herbs on this island. May I go gather them?” the girl hesitated before suddenly asking.

“Spiritual herbs? Given your nature as a spiritual being, your senses are likely accurate. Very well, there are no powerful beasts here, and we have time to spare. Go ahead,” Han Li replied after a brief consideration, not objecting.

“Thank you, Master! I’ll be off then,” the girl beamed before transforming into a streak of white light, soaring into the air and darting toward a nearby verdant peak.

Han Li chuckled and found a large boulder nearby, sitting cross-legged upon it.

With a flick of his sleeve, a dozen array flags of various colors shot out, vanishing into the surrounding void after a few flashes.

A five-colored light barrier silently enveloped the entire mountaintop before disappearing just as quickly.

From a distance, the area appeared unchanged—except for Han Li’s sudden disappearance from the boulder.

With the barrier in place, he calmly formed a hand seal, and golden light erupted from his body as a golden shadow emerged behind him—the manifestation of his Sacred Vajra Dharma Form.

With a point toward the Dharma Form, the three-headed, six-armed figure shimmered with purple runes before solidifying into a golden body standing motionless before him.

Han Li narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the golden body for a long moment before suddenly beckoning with one hand.

One of the golden body’s three heads opened its mouth, spitting out a silver glow that enveloped an object—the silver ruler seized from the golden-horned youth he had slain earlier.

Though not a Profound Heavenly Treasure, this artifact had displayed remarkable power, likely ranking among the highest-grade spiritual treasures.

Having lacked the time to examine it earlier, Han Li now carefully inspected the ruler, running his fingers over its surface while probing it with his spiritual sense.

His expression remained calm until, after an indeterminate period, his eyes abruptly snapped open.

“The Mixed Element Ruler is indeed a top-grade spiritual treasure. Mastering its accompanying incantation will allow me to wield it,” he murmured before channeling pure spiritual power into the ruler.

The ruler emitted a resonant hum, trembling as a silver screen of light unfurled, displaying rows of ancient script.

Han Li swiftly memorized the incantation before dispersing the light and storing the ruler away.

He then recalled the golden body and began cultivating the Mixed Element Ruler’s incantation.

Time flew—three days passed in a blink.

With his current late-stage Void Refinement cultivation, Han Li completed the incantation far faster than he had with the Void Heaven Cauldron, successfully integrating the ruler into his body.

Meanwhile, the puppets below had excavated most of the hidden ore. One more day would suffice to finish the task.

Qu’er had also gathered numerous herbs from the island, some exceptionally rare even in the Spirit Realm—an unexpected boon.

Emboldened by two uneventful days, the girl ventured into the lake’s depths to search for more elusive herbs.

As Han Li was at a critical juncture in his cultivation, he merely sent a brief warning via voice transmission before focusing on his practice—though he kept a strand of spiritual sense on her as a precaution.

Whether by foresight or fate, trouble arrived just as he completed the incantation.

While meditating atop the mountain, his expression abruptly darkened. “Seeking death!” he spat before transforming into an azure streak that shot through the barrier toward a distant point.

Within moments, the streak vanished beyond the horizon.

Simultaneously, hundreds of miles from the island, three fleeing streaks of light—one white, containing Qu’er—raced desperately toward the island.

Pursuing them were four bizarre triangular chariots, their rusted, battered frames belying terrifying speed as they closed the distance relentlessly.

“Keh keh! Fellow Daoist Yue, you’ve exhausted your vitality in our earlier battle. Even if you push yourself further, where can you run? Hand over the Nine Flame Grass, and I may grant you a merciful death,” a grating male voice called from one chariot.

“This immortal would sooner destroy the herb than let you claim a single leaf!” a woman’s icy voice retorted from within the blue streak ahead.

“Fairy Yue, spare your words. They betrayed us the moment they secured their prize—trusting them again would be folly,” an elderly man’s furious voice added from the gray streak.

“Elder Xu, rest assured—I’d be a fool to believe them now,” the woman replied calmly before privately transmitting: “Elder Xu, is this direction correct? We can’t hold out much longer.”

“It should be. Our artifact reacted earlier—someone from our Heavenly Cloud Sect must be nearby. That girl behind us feels unnatural, likely a transformed spirit beast from another team. With their marks on us, this is our only gamble,” the elder replied covertly.

The woman sighed silently before pouring all her energy into her escape.