Chapter 699: Breaking the Formation

Han Li formed an incantation gesture with his hands and the dozen formation flags began to hover and arrange themselves in a strange formation as they faced the wall. It appeared incomprehensible.

At that moment, Han Li began to softly utter an incantation and a dozen incantation seals flew from his hands, accurately striking each of the flags in the formation. The flags trembled for a moment before shining with various-colored lights and shooting out threads of light that wrapped around each other.

Wang Tiangu and the other cultivators familiar with spell formations frowned. They felt this spell formation seemed somewhat familiar while knowing that they hadn’t actually seen such a formation before. They all couldn’t help but secretly analyze it as if wishing to discover its secret.

As if unwilling to allow the other cultivators to study the profound aspects of the spell formation, he softly shouted and had the spell formation emit blinding white light. Those that were staring at the spell formation were caught off guard and were forced to turn their gazes away.

While these old eccentrics were startled, they secretly channeled spiritual power through their eyes and immediately opened them once more. As a result, they couldn’t help but reveal shock. They saw the flag formation was already embedded into the crystal wall without any mishap. It appeared almost as if the flags had grown out of the wall.

At that moment, Marquis Nanlong and the white-clothed old man revealed delight. Their confidence in Han Li grew.

Wang Tiangu’s expression changed for just a moment, but Wang Chan who stood behind him revealed a complex amazement and was entirely amazed. Yan Ruyan slightly frowned and wore a puzzled expression as she gazed at the spell formation on the wall.

Han Li took a few steps forward towards the wall and pressed his hands against it, his fingers faintly shining with azure light. At that same moment, the spell formation on the wall seemed to respond as the center of the formation began to glow with rainbow light. The light became increasingly brilliant and gradually spread to cover the entire wall in a magnificent display.

As everyone was entranced by the scene, Han Li pulled his hands away from the crystal wall and his figure blurred, reappeared at a neighboring wall.

After examining it for a long while, he took out another set of formation flags and arranged the flags differently from the first formation. After they flickered with white light, they embedded themselves in the crystal wall once more.

Because the cultivators were prepared and protected their eyes with spiritual light, they were able to clearly observe how easily the flags had pierced into the walls under Han Li’s command. They couldn’t help but click their tongues in surprise.

Placing down the spell formations onto each of the four walls using this same method took no less than an hour.

The other cultivators didn’t reveal any impatience. They all knew that dissolving such a profound ancient restriction wasn’t something that could be done easily. 

Having arranged a spell formation on each of the walls, Han Li walked to the center of the hall and raised his hand, revealing a green formation plate. He struck the plate with several complex incantations seals, causing both the plate and the four crystal walls to simultaneously twinkle with various colored light and pulse in pattern.

Han Li didn’t bother to glance around him and simply lowered his head, uttering, “Break.”

In the same instance he spoke, the light surged and released an ear-piercing cry. It became increasingly loud to the point where it sounded as if a myriad of birds had simultaneously cried out.

A huge rumble shook the room and the entire hall grew dim as the lights vanished.

The others then discovered that the crystal walls surrounding them had unexpectedly vanished, only to be replaced with ordinary stone walls.  One of the stone walls even had a stone gate that was twenty meters tall and twelve meters wide.

A trace of joy flickered from Marquis Nanlong’s face and he excitedly said, “I didn’t expect that Fellow Daoist Han was so skilled in spell formations. Haha! Great! Fellow Daoist Yun and I will naturally keep our word. After we both get our pick, Fellow Daoist will have priority in choosing a treasure.” 

The white-clothed old man wore a smile when he saw the stone gate before him. His eyes were filled with a fervor.

In his excitement, the tan cultivator restlessly said, “Brother Nanlong, let’s see what lays inside. Surely there can’t be more restrictions inside!”

Marquis Nanlong confidently said, “Be at ease, there can’t be. According to what Master Cang Kun left behind, the cave residence should only have two layers of restrictions.” He then stepped forward without another word and swept his sleeve past the stone gate, easily opening it.

The many cultivators felt the last of their worries disappear when they saw them and began to follow Marquis Nanlong outside.

Once the old woman arrived outside the stone gate, she yelled in astonishment, “What is this!?” Han Li and the rest of the party appeared astounded by what laid beyond the gate.

There was a hall that was several time larger than the previous one, but there was also an exquisitely-styled pavilion at the center of the large hall. This pavilion was created from translucent white jade. It was over thirty meters tall and had only two stories. On top of its ten meter gate were the words Jadepier Pavilion written in silver characters.

Regardless of how it could be said, a pavilion at the center of the hall was an odd sight. There was a jet-black altar table that stood in front of the pavilion with a sparkling meter-long scroll that laid on top of it.

As for the rest of the hall, it was completely vacant and lacked any other gates.

Everyone instantly assumed that the treasure was to be hidden inside the pavilion.

After Marquis Nanlong and the white-clothed old man glanced at each other, the old man walked towards the altar table with caution.

The rest of the party felt their hearts stir, but they raised no objections. They simply calmly observed the old man’s actions.

The white-clothed old man hesitated for a moment before spitting out a mist of white light. The mist wrapped around the scroll and raised it up. With a series of turns, the scroll opened to reveal the portrait of a sword-bearing scholar that was gazing to the sky.

“That is Master Cang Kun?” The stern-faced cultivator asked with astonishment.

Wang Tiangu’s gaze flickered past the portrait and said, “It seems so. However, there should be a reason why it was enshrined there. However, it doesn’t seem to be particularly precious in and of itself.

After a moment of thought, the old man slowly said, “I’ll be giving it a try then!”

His two hands formed an incantation seal and he flicked his finger. Several red spell seals struck the portrait, causing it to brightly shine with silver light for a just a moment. It then faded away as if nothing had occurred.

The white-clothed old man hesitantly said, “How strange! It is possible that this is but a simple portrait!”

After a moment of silence, Marquis Nanlong suggested, “Since that’s the case, let’s put away the portrait for now. First let’s search for the other treasures first and distribute them! Does anyone have any objections?”

The old woman glanced at the portrait and chuckled, “I have no objections. Let’s follow Fellow Daoist Nanlong’s suggestion.” Since the others have yet to see the other treasures, they all agreed.

As a result, the white-clothed old man rolled the scroll back up and carefully placed it in his storage pouch.

As the Marquis looked at the pavilion, he excitedly said, “Let’s go into the pavilion and have a look!” 

The party walked around the altar table and arrived in front of the tightly shut pavilion. Marquis Nanlong then impatiently pushed open its gate with a creak.

Before Han Li and the others could enter, they were met with a blinding light. It blinded them for a long while before their vision could adjust. Once they could see once more, they spotted three slender black wood shelves on the first floor. They were filled with the items that had emitted the dazzling light.

The party was instantly filled with joy at the sight. But as each of them were experienced and cunning, they didn’t dare to commit any mistaken actions out of greed.

With the party restraining their fervent desires, they slowly walked into the pavilion and examined each of the treasures on the shelves.