Hua Tianqi quickly glanced at the Ye Clan Elders trapped in the Yin Qi before turning his eyes to the exit on the other end of the hall. With a resolute tone, he shouted, “Go!”
He flipped his hand, producing a small green flag. In a blur, a ball of emerald light immediately ruptured and swept the four up in its light before rushing them towards the other side of the hall.
“You dare?!” The large-headed eccentric furiously yelled when he saw this and immediately released countless yellow swordstreaks from his body, shredding the Yin Qi surrounding them in an attempt to break free.
After the eccentric’s party managed to escape, white light suddenly shined from the exit to reveal a dense wall of sparkling crystal.
Without another thought, he raised his hand and shot a ten-meter-long swordlight towards the wall. As a result, rainbow flashed and the swordlight was engulfed.
After examining it with shock, he cried out in fury, “An Elemental Sanctuary Wall!”
The old man astonishedly said, “Indeed. Isn’t this a signature treasure of the Buddhist Sanctuary Sect? How could it fall into their hands? Ah yes, it is said they have a relationship of some sort. After all, they are both great powers in the region.”
“The treasure is quite famous.” The Elder Devil frowned.
The eccentric stared at the wall with a pale complexion, “How troublesome. From how recklessly they acted, it appears there truly is a Divine Spirit Treasure at the bottom.”
The Elder Devil coldly laughed, “Brother Ye doesn’t need to be so anxious! It is good that they went down first. The treasure might not even be on the next floor and the monsters that are imprisoned there are sure to be even more deadly. They’re only asking for trouble to rush ahead. Let’s deal with the wall after we put this ghost monarch in order.”
After some thought, the eccentric relaxed and smiled, “Brother Han’s words are reasonable. I was too worried over the treasure!”
With that said, a cold glint flashed from his eye when he turned his attention to the ghost monarch suppressed by the silver pitchfork.
At the other side of the crystal wall, Hua Tianqi let out a long sigh. One of his fellow sect elders immediately grumbled, “Senior Martial Brother Hua, that was far too dangerous. Although the Elemental Sanctuary Wall will stall for some time, I fear we caused a great offense. How will we deal with them in the future?”
Hua Tianqi glanced at his fearful junior martial brother and sullenly said, “You still think that we can peacefully coexist with the Ye Clan? Ye Yuesheng feigned death in the past to escape execution from the ten great sects. Let alone offending them, now that we’ve encountered them, they will not leave us be. And since this treasure was the obsession of our sect founder, it can’t possibly be anything but a legendary Divine Spirit Treasure. What is there to fear with a bit of danger?”
Another sect elder fearfully asked, “If it truly is something as heaven-defying as that, we will have to brave the risk. However, Ye Yuesheng and the others will be guarding the outside. Even if we manage to acquire it, how will we leave?”
Hua Tianqi chuckled, “Did you think I’d take the risk without a plan? Before we came, I brought the Poison Dragon Pearl. I’ll swallow the pearl and have the power to contend a late-Nascent Soul cultivator for a short time. There should be no problem in getting away.”
“So Senior Martial Brother had made preparations. In that case, we have little to worry.” The other three relaxed.
“It is a pity that Junior Martial Brother Yuan isn’t here. Then we wouldn’t need to use the pearl to contend against them.” Having suddenly recalled his Junior Martial Brother, a trace of sadness appeared on his face.
A nearby elder smiled and said, “That is so, but Senior Martial Brother Hua already left a message behind. He might even be on his way as we speak. In that case, things will be much easier when we leave.”
“I hope that is the case,” then with a stiff expression, Hua Tianqi solemnly said, “Everyone, be careful. Given how difficult the ghosts on the seventh floor were, they will be even more fearsome on the eighth and ninth. However, the Devil Suppressing Pagoda is truly deserving of its name. If the Ye Clan hadn’t cleared the way for us, we would’ve spent a great amount of strength.”
The other three called out in acknowledgment.
Afterwards, the party made their way further down. From what they had seen earlier, they should head down to the next floor after walking for a hundred meters.
But this time, they only walked for thirty meters before their surroundings lit up, finding themselves facing a small stone room. The walls were completely bare, but there was two teleportation formations on the ground: a black one and a white one.
“This is...” Hua Tianqi frowned.
The others looked at each other with dismay.
They walked inside. Hua Tianqi held his hands behind his back and gave a cursory glance.
He turned his head to an old man with thick eyebrows and said, “Junior Martial Brother Miao, you’re skilled in ancient spell formations. Take a look and see if they’re short-range teleportation.”
“Understood,” the old man immediately replied. He then walked in front of one of them and began to inspect it. The others curiously followed after.
A moment of silence later, the old man confirmed, “It is truly a short-range teleportation formation, one that won’t exceed fifty kilometers.”
A cold glint flashed in Hua Tianqi’s eye, “Then it should lead us to the eighth floor, though it is quite unordinary to use teleportation for one floor. Do these formations work both ways?”
The old man rubbed his chin and doubtfully said, “Of course. Normal short-range formations are bidirectional. But it is strange for there to be two. Could it be the eighth floor is divided into two?”
“Perhaps, but we’ll have to take it to be sure. Let’s first take the white one. The other one gives me a sense of dread.” Hua Tianqi then walked to the white formation without hesitation.
When the other three looked at the black one, they felt a sense of dread and quickly made their way to the white formation, if only to get away from it.”
After Hua Tianqi struck it with a spell seal, white light flashed, followed by their disappearance.
A moment later, they felt a sense of vertigo and found themselves in a land resembling paradise.
There was a blue sky with white clouds and spiritual plants of all kinds surrounding them. With each breath, they felt a wave of overwhelming spiritual Qi.
But what was most eye-catching, was a small palace regally decorated in gold and jade. It was located at the center of a giant spell formation. There were altars that surrounded it, each enshrined with a giant stone statue carrying a huge golden blade. These statues were crude and carried an indescribably savage aura, and they all faced the palace at the center.
The scene was so bizarre that Hua Tianqi found himself at a loss as of what to say.
...
Han Li was currently standing in the white jade plaza, facing a group of cultivators that were leering at him with unrelenting malice.
‘Perhaps staying at the Spirit Metal Hall was the right choice,’ he thought, or if he had delayed himself for a moment, he wouldn’t of had such a warm welcome.
Just as he returned and thought to take another stairway, a group of people emerged from the trees at the side of the plaza. Rather than going up a stairway, they had concealed themselves nearby. Because spiritual sense was restricted in the area, he wasn’t able to detect them and fell into their trap.
A gorgeous white-robed woman was frigidly glaring at Han Li. Through her gritted teeth, she said, “Fellow Daoist Han, I didn’t expect to see you here. You’ve been quite hard to find.”
The person standing at her side was someone he found to be familiar, a white-robed youth. As for her other three companions, they were Ge Tianhao and two black-robed old men.
They surrounded him in a half circle and blocked the way down the mountain, fearing he would escape.
Han Li sighed. He recalled the detection tool he made specifically to avoid her, but now that several years had passed, it had lost its efficacy. It would’ve been an entirely different story if they crossed paths two years ago.
“I also didn’t expect to find the Saintess here. It is truly a fortunate meeting.” With a calm expression, he saluted the Endless Sky Saintess, Lin Yinping, and turned his head to the white-robed youth, “And you must be a Grand Immortal, I’m honored!”
In Han Li’s mind, this person was the greatest threat amongst them: a late-Nascent Soul cultivator. Although he was surrounded, most of his attention was focused on him.
Grand Immortal Xu expressionlessly examined Han Li and spoke with great deliberation, “I am indeed one of the four Grand Immortals of the Soaring Tribe. I’ve only seen you from a distance, and it is a pity you hadn’t the mind to compare pointers with me. Would you be free to do that now?”