Chapter 2223: Starfall Flag and Faux Illusion Sky Mirror
"Skip all the pleasantries, Bao Hua; tell us if you've managed to refine the treasures required to ward off the stemborers' explosions. Some of us have had to provide many precious materials to you for the sake of those treasures." The one who had spoken was a man that was entirely enshrouded in golden light, and he seemed to be quite familiar with Bao Hua.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Li Miao. Rest assured, I wouldn't have accepted those materials if I wasn't confident in my ability to refine the treasures. Please take a look."
Bao Hua raised a slender hand as she spoke, and two balls of light, one black and one white, emerged from her palm.
At the centers of those balls of light were a flag that was emblazoned with countless silver stars, and a mirror containing a winged white tiger image, respectively.
"These two treasures can counter those self-detonating stemborers? They don't look all that special," another being enshrouded in green Qi said in a skeptical voice.
A middle-aged man dressed like a king interjected, "Hehe, I'm afraid you're wrong there, Fellow Daoist Lü Shi. These two treasures appear quite ordinary, but they seem to be related to the legendary Profound Heavenly Treasures, Star Moon Flag and Illusion Sky Mirror. Could it be that these are replicas of those two treasures?"
A stir immediately rang through the hall, and many people began to reassess the treasures Bao Hua was displaying with stunned expressions.
Bao Hua nodded calmly in response. "These two treasures are indeed replicas of the Star Moon Flag and Illusion Sky Mirror. I refer to them as Starfall Flag and Faux Illusion Sky Mirror."
"I've heard that the Star Moon Flag is one of very few treasures that can draw upon the power of stars, while the Illusion Sky Mirror possesses the unmatched ability to conceal the entire heavens; do those two treasures of yours possess some of those abilities, Fellow Daoist Bao Hua?" Another voice suddenly rang out in the hall, but strangely enough, no one could pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
"You must be a fellow daoist from the Black Night Realm, right? As expected of someone cultivating darkness-attribute abilities; your concealment skills are truly unmatched. To answer your question, the Starfall Flag and Faux Illusion Sky Mirror will only be around 50% as potent as the treasures they're replicating at most, but according to my estimates, that should be enough to deal with the self-detonating stemborers," Bao Hua replied with a smile.
The Grand Ascension Stage being from the Black Night Realm was silent for a moment before continuing, "Seeing as you're so confident in these two treasures, I'm sure they'll work just fine. Now that the issue of the self-detonating stemborers has been resolved, I think we should devise a plan for how to restrict the Stemborer Queen once we enter the original sealed site."
"Of course. Even though quite a large number of us have gathered here, we'll still be vulnerable to the Stemborer Queen unless we can work out an effective course of action," Bao Hua replied with a nod.
The Grand Ascension Stage being by the name of Li Miao asked, "Just how fearsome is that Stemborer Queen? Far more fellow daoists entered the original sealed site than the numbers we've gathered here, yet all of them were still trapped by the Stemborer Queen. Fellow Daoist Bao Hua, you're the last person to have entered the original sealed site; would you be able to provide us with some useful information?"
Bao Hua was unsurprised by Li Miao's inquiry, and she said, "I'm sure many of you want to see the message I received from Fellow Daoist Yuan Yan, right? In that case, I'll display the message to all of you to assuage your suspicions." She swept a sleeve through the air as she spoke to release an inky-black bead, which began to rotate rapidly in mid-air.
Countless five-colored runes surged forth from the bead, then converged to form an incomplete passage of text.
Everyone immediately cast their eyes toward the passage of text.
Sure enough, the message was exactly as Bao Hua had described. It had been sent out by Yuan Yan, and it briefly described the conundrum that everyone in the original sealed site encountered, followed by a request for reinforcements. The last part of the message was quite blurry and indistinct, but upon closer inspection and analysis, those did indeed appear to be words of warning.
Different expressions appeared on everyone's face after viewing the message.
"Looks like the information provided by Fellow Daoist Bao Hua was accurate; let's begin discussing strategies now," a young beauty proposed.
"How are we going to do that? There are over 40 of us here, and each of us is going to propose a different course of action. If you ask me, Fellow Daoist Bao Hua is the one who proposed this meeting, and she's one of the most powerful beings among us, so we should hear her opinion first," someone countered.
A middle-aged Grand Ascension Stage being from the Heavenly Crow Realm immediately objected, "Why should Fellow Daoist Bao Hua get to speak first when our Heavenly Crow Realm has the most representatives?"
At the same time, Old Man Copper Crow abruptly opened his eyes to reveal a cold expression, and all of the other Grand Ascension Stage beings immediately fell silent.
Bao Hua cast her gaze toward Old Man Copper Crow, and said, "I've heard much about you, Fellow Daoist Copper Crow. Do you have any proposals for how we should proceed?"
"I'm only here to save my descendant. As for those self-detonating stemborers and that Stemborer Queen, I won't pay them any heed as long as they don't get in my way," Old Man Copper Crow replied in an expressionless manner.
His statement immediately created quite a stir in the hall, and Bao Hua didn't seem to be very surprised to hear this, but her brows furrowed slightly as she said, "Is that really appropriate, Brother Copper Crow?"
Old Man Copper Crow harrumphed coldly in response. "Hmph, why not? I only have one direct lineal descendant, and I expended countless efforts to nurture him into a Grand Ascension Stage being, yet he's been trapped while assisting your Elder Devil Realm. I don't care if that Stemborer Queen really does possess the ability to destroy entire realms; as long as it doesn't come to our Heavenly Crow Realm, it can do whatever it wants as far as I'm concerned."
Everyone's expressions darkened slightly upon hearing this.
The Grand Ascension Stage being by the name of Lü Shi said with furrowed brows, "Aren't you being too selfish, Fellow Daoist?"
"Selfish? So what? I've always been this way. Are you going to teach me a lesson?" Old Man Copper Crow countered as he cast a cold gaze toward Lü Shi.
As soon as their eyes met, Lü Shi couldn't help but shudder, and he felt as if all of his internal organs had been instantly frozen.
His expression darkened significantly, but he decided to remain silent in the end.
The other Grand Ascension Stage beings didn't dare to interject, but most of them were also quite displeased.
However, there were a few Grand Ascension Stage beings that had come to the Elder Devil Realm for the same objective as Old Man Copper Crow, and they were quite elated by this turn of events.
With the vastly renowned Old Man Copper Crow leading the way, their plight to save their brethren would undoubtedly encounter far less resistance.
Han Li was taking advantage of this opportunity to inspect Old Man Copper Crow.
From the beginning, he had immediately sensed that this Old Man Copper Crow's spiritual sense was far more powerful than that of the average Grand Ascension Stage being; he was perhaps even superior in this regard to the likes of the three devilish patriarchs.
Of course, he still couldn't compare with Han Li, who had encountered many miraculous opportunities and cultivated multiple spiritual sense secret techniques, thereby elevating his spiritual sense to become several times as powerful as that of the average Grand Ascension Stage being.
Even so, this was already a testament to just how fearsome Old Man Copper Crow was compared to the average Grand Ascension Stage being, and it seemed that his status as one of the four great birds wasn't unfounded.
"Fellow Daoist Copper Crow, we all understand your urge to save your descendant, but don't let your emotions get the better of yourself. I never said that the two objectives couldn't be simultaneously achieved," Bao Hua said in a calm manner.
She was the only one present who could speak on equal terms with Old Man Copper Crow.
Old Man Copper Crow faltered slightly upon hearing this before turning to Bao Hua with a cold expression. "What do you mean by that? You're not trying to trick me, are you?"
"I wouldn't dare to do that; you think far too highly of me, Fellow Daoist," Bao Hua chuckled.
"Hmph, I wouldn't be so sure of that; everyone knows that you were always the most wily and cunning of the three devilish patriarchs," Old Man Copper Crow chuckled coldly.
Bao Hua's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but a smile then suddenly appeared on her face as she began to communicate directly with Old Man Copper Crow through voice transmission.
Initially, Old Man Copper Crow maintained his cold expression, but moments later, his pupils suddenly contracted drastically, and he asked, "Is that true? If you're lying to me..."
"Take a look at this and you'll be able to see whether I'm telling the truth." Bao Hua raised a hand as she spoke, releasing a streak of light that landed in Old Man Copper Crow's grasp in a flash.