Chapter 483: Transformed Treasure
Still unsure of the Bone Sage's intentions, Han Li's gaze moved towards his nearby Bloodjade Spider.
The red light in the spider's body began to shine even more brilliantly and, trembling ever so slightly, it pulled its thread back.
In that moment, the milky white spider web sparkled with a faint, yet chilling blue light . The light traveled up the web until it collided with the Bloodjade Spider's own red light and immediately dissipated into specks of white light. It couldn't make even the slightest contact with the Bloodjade Spider's body.
Han Li frowned. There was no doubt this strange light had something to do with the Celestial Ice Flame. Nor was it any no wonder why those eccentrics wouldn't dare assist the spirit beast in acquiring the treasure. They were fearful of this blue light.
But just as Han Li finished this thought, he heard the sound of Man Huzi laughing as an explosion went off in the sky. The spectacle brought Han Li's attention back to the battle at hand.
He watched as Man Huzi's body grew thirteen meters in size. The clothes on the upper half of his body disappeared to reveal the densely packed golden scales that lined his body. They radiated brightly to the point where they can't be directly seen. But what was even more strange were the several silver rings of light rotating around his huge body.
The silver rings seemed illusionary and fluttered erratically, but they were very much capable of preventing Wan Tianming's purple flame dragons from approaching Man Huzi, always blocking their every advance. Although Man Huzi proclaimed that his Heavenbearing Devil Arts was ranked first in the Scattered Star Seas, even he was unwilling to foolishly take on Wan Tianming's true flames with this technique alone.
In addition to the change from Heavenbearing Devil's transformation, Man Huzi was also now wearing a malicious looking pair of dull, pitch-black gloves that was covered in inch-long needles.
Man Huzi brandished his hands and starting punching the air, sending out huge golden fists with every strike—all aimed at the huge purple draconic sword that Wan Tianming had summoned summoned earlier . Every striked knocked the huge sword back several.
A malicious expression appeared on Wan Tianming's face as he floated in midair nearby. He ordered two of his purple flame dragons to fly through the skies and look for a weak point in the silver rings. He hoped to corner Man Huzi in a single move.
As for Layman Qing Yi and Tian Wuzi, they were the sort to treasure their lives above all else. They kept a large gap between themselves as they fought. Qing Yi was continuously issuing orders to his Azure Thorn Bird as he attacked with magic treasures, while Tian Wuzi relied on the Phantom Tortoise and his short, sparkling club to form an impenetrable defense. The two were calmly battling as if they were they were exchanging pointers.
The most lively battle was between Zenith Yin and the dark, skinny old farmer. Their battle took place over a large area where both ghostly wails and phoenix cries interweaved amongst each other. Green silhouettes flickered within a huge vortex of black Qi. The only images that could be seen from the outside was the occasional flicker of a Heavenwide Corpse or the wild whips of huge green vines skirting the edge of the black mist.
As for the heavily valued Three Eyed Panther variant, it was currently tangling with the white Glacial Flood Dragon.
The dragon was clearly at a disadvantage; the panther's aberrant technique putting heavy pressure upon him. The white, icy mist that it spouted immediately turned into chunks of stone upon contact with the yellow light, leaving the panther completely untouched. However, it was still able to tie down the leopard, preventing it from attacking the three Devil Dao cultivators. But under the current circumstances, the dragon wouldn't be able to last for much longer.
As Han Li observed the battle, a strange thought popped into his mind.
While their battle was quite lively with magic treasures constantly fluttering about and secret techniques being unleashed without restraint, he still felt the absence of the desperate struggle that comes with a battle of life and death. It was as though they were not fighting for their lives, but merely sparring instead. Could it be that all battles between Nascent Soul cultivators were all like this?
After finishing his thought, he took another look at the Bone Sage.
The Bone Sage's blank face now had a trace of a sneer. But after sensing Han Li's gaze, his face became blank once more and returned to its normal, unreadable state.
Han Li's heart trembled and felt as though he were on the verge of realizing something. But before he could further pursue the thought, a huge explosion erupted from the altar's hole, followed by deafening clangs.
Greatly startled, Han Li turned to face the hole, readying his guard.
He watched as a pulsating blue light emerged from the hole, before violently exploding into a red flame as the cry of a dragon echoed from within. The fiery light quickly wrapped itself around the altar before stopped in midair and merging into the form of a huge two-headed wolf. Its entire body was made of blazing flame. The beast took one look at the scene before it immediately fled.
Upon seeing this, both sides stopped fighting, dumbfounded. The closest to it, Layman Qing Yi, immediately slapped the top of his head. An azure hand of light shot out from his head, sweeping towards the flame wolf.
When Wan Tianming saw this, he anxiously shouted, "Don't you dare! That treasure is mine!" He spun his body, separating himself into two identical selves which both flared with purple light as they chased after the huge hand.
Having finally collected themselves, the others hastily used their abilities and launched themselves after the wolf, producing a streaks of multi-colored lights all focused on a single point.
The others were obviously a step behind Qing Yi and Wan Tianming. Qing Yi's large azure hand was not only fast, but it also had a head start. It had arrived at the flame wolf first and was just about to grab it.
Everyone was certain that Qing Yi would capture it successfully, except for the wolf that was. It rocked its heads back and forth, causing a red and yellow barrier of light to appear and wrap around its body. When the hand collided with the barrier, it was repelled with a muffled bang.
At first Qing Yi was shocked, but soon a smile had emerged on his face. Just as the azure hand flourished with light and tightened its grip, Wan Tianming's purple light appeared right behind. In that instant, he had quickly changed his target. The streaks of light merged into a purple fire dragon and fiercely attacked the large hand.
When Layman Qing Yi saw this, he inwardly rained curses upon Wan Tianming's treachery! The hand was a profound transformation of his spiritual sense. Though it was an easy ability to use, its power certainly wasn't weak. Even so, he didn't dare take a direct hit from a flame dragon created by the Heavensifting True Arts.
Even if he were able to acquire the treasure, his spiritual sense would suffer heavy damage. He couldn't afford to make such a costly trade! With no better option, the azure hand suddenly stopped grabbing at the flame wolf and turned to block Wan Tianming's purple flame dragon, resulting a burst of azure light and purple flames.
In that instant, the others had overtaken them. They surrounded the flame wolf and instead of attacking it, they all began to attack each other.
These attacks were far more vicious and ruthless than before. Secret techniques were quickly cast in succession, tangling everyone down and rendering them incapable of paying the flame wolf any heed.
The flame wolf, appearing to be quite intelligent, seemed to have realized the fearsomeness of the Nascent Soul eccentries. It quickly darted out from underneath them and charged in the direction of the three Core Formation cultivators.
Initially, Han Li was dumbstruck by this, but soon he recollected himself.
The two headed flame wolf was certain to be a transformed treasure of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. While he didn't know how it was able to break out before the Heavenvoid Cauldron was entirely seized, it was undoubtedly a rare item from its mobile transformation and independant acts of resistance.
Upon seeing the treasure wolf charge towards them, Han Li reacted near instantaneously, patting his storage pouch. A white streak of Qi suddenly flew out and appeared in his grasp, revealing an ancient flower basket.
But before Han Li could act, two huge pythons made of black Qi rushed to constrict the flame wolf. They managed to wrap themselves around its body several times, restraining it.
Han Li inwardly cursed and glanced at the side to see Wu Chou forming an incantation seal with a proud expression. It seems the huge black pythons were created with the Profound Yin Arts.
Han Li exposed slight vexation on his face. He couldn't help but hesitantly consider whether or not he should attack him for the treasure. After all, the treasure hadn't yet been truly acquired. However, this would undoubtedly enrage Grandmaster Zenith Yin, guaranteeing that Han Li would be disposed off after the Heavenvoid Cauldron was acquired. It simply wasn't worth the consequences.
These thoughts quickly rushed through his mind, but, before he could even finished his contemplations, the Bone Sage ruthlessly launched an attack at the flame wolf.
A cold glint flickered through the Bone Sage's eyes. He silently opened his mouth and spat out a ray of green light. In an instant, the green light brightly flourished, transforming into a huge emerald-green net that ensnared both the black python and the flame wolf.
Chapter 484: Battling Over Treasure
Wu Chou hadn't anticipated that the taciturn Bone Sage would silently compete with him for the treasure. With a savage expression, he furiously shouted, "You dare to fight this young island lord over treasure?"
The Bone Sage sneered and spoke with unconcealed derision, "Funny. Was this treasure created by your clan? Why can't I contend for it?"
Wu Chou flew into a fit of rage out of embarrassment, but something soon came to mind and he foully grimaced. Instead of further refuting, he clasped his hand into an incarnation gesture, forcefully using the black pythons to exert more strength.
It seemed Wu Chou understood that since the Bone Sage was supported by Man Huzi who Zenith Yin held in fear, he was unable to use his grandfather's status to subdue him.
Wu Chou's actions caused the Bone Sage to sneer. Without speaking further, he pointed at the green web, causing its light to brightly flourish as its threads grew thicker and tightened.
Wu Chou's and the Bone Sage's techniques had both restrained the wolf, but its light barrier grew increasingly firm and bright despite having decreased several times in size. The unscathed flame wolf gazed at the two, as they were at a standstill.
The Nascent Soul cultivators that were still fighting in the sky were caught by surprise. None of them had expected that the treasure would run towards the Core Formation cultivators. The Righteous Dao cultivators grew increasingly anxious and wished to break off from the battle to seize the treasure. However, the eccentrics of the Devil Dao were largely unbothered.
Regardless of how you looked at it, it was their side that had acquired the treasure. They were happy to tie down the Righteous Dao cultivators and allow their juniors to safely acquire the treasure. Besides, Man Huzi and Zenith Yin felt that they had a high chance of acquiring the treasure for themselves.
Wu Chou had been given many treasures by Zenith Yin, and he also used the Profound Yin Devilish Art, one of the best cultivations arts in the Scattered Star Seas. As such, Zenith Yin felt confident that Wu Chou would be able to wrest away the treasure from the Bone Sage who only appeared to be an early Core Formation cultivator. Man Huzi, knowing the Bone Sage's true identity, held far more confidence in acquiring it than Zenith Yin did. Qing Yi could only look at the circumstances with a trace of sadness. After hesitating for only a moment, he decided to tangle with Tian Wuzi and keep him occupied.
At that moment, the sole person near the altar was Han Li. Han Li didn't feel leisurely in the slightest. In fact, he felt cold sweat line his back. He had instinctively taken out the ancient flower basket a moment ago due to the fact it was the most suitable to seizing treasures.
But when he saw the Bone Sage move to take the treasure, he instantly recalled something significant. His ancient flower basket treasure was something he had acquired from the ugly man that was watching over the Bone Sage's prison. If he were to take it out then wouldn't he be informing Zenith Yin that he had released the Bone Sage?
This caused Han Li to break out in cold sweat. Thinking about seizing treasure was now the last thing on his mind! Rather, his mind was chaotically filled with all sorts of distracting thoughts, doing his utmost to come up with an appropriate answer for Zenith Yin.
But in that next moment, Han Li felt amazed. He had clearly felt Zenith Yin's gaze sweep past the flower basket but he didn't react in the slightest.
Han Li suddenly came to a delighted realization. The ancient flower basket wasn’t something that Zenith Yin had given to the ugly man. Furthermore, it wasn't something that he realized the ugly man had possessed. Having come to that conclusion, Han Li felt greatly relieved.
Han Li had guessed correctly! That ugly man had stood guard at the Bone Sage's island for a very long time, but he heard word of the ancient flower basket and left to retrieve it. Although he managed to smoothly acquire the treasure, Han Li's party had already surrounded the Bone Sage's formation and were just about to destroy it. This frightened the ugly man into a furious rage, but he ultimately ended up dying to Han Li's Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, allowing Han Li to acquire the flower basket as spoils.
Having recovered his calm, Han Li glanced at Wu Chou and the Bone Sage struggling over the fire wolf. He thought to himself, "You're quite in luck, old devil. Had Zenith Yin discovered this matter, I would have dragged you down with me. Don't think that I'll leave you unscathed!"
Another round of heavy, thunderous clangs rang out from the hole.
Having gone through this before, the Nascent Soul cultivators slowed their hands and glanced at one another. Not knowing who was the first to move, they all blurred and appeared in the direction of the altar's hole.
At that moment, the Heavenvoid Cauldron was close to the surface. The Nascent Soul cultivators were forced to block the fantastical cold that it had released, each making full use of their techniques and summoning their defensive treasures. As these actions produced flashes of wondrous light, both sides were cautious staring at one another.
At that moment, Zenith Yin was extremely vexed.
His original thoughts were to fend off the Righteous Dao and seize the treasures in one go. Then they would split the treasures in agreement. But who could've thought that as the Heavenvoid Cauldron neared the surface the ancient treasures would independently fly out. In this manner, the acquisition of treasure was entirely a matter of skill.
After all, regardless of who seizes the treasure, it was impossible to ask them to hand it over to others as they had been acquired through battle. This would render the original agreement of splitting the treasures null and void.
Zenith Yin's eyes furiously looked around, wishing to see if there was a way he could acquire more treasures. But just as these thoughts appeared in his mind, a deafening screech was heard followed by two sounds of rustling wind. A streak of red and a streak of white radiance shot out of the blue flame at the center.
The six Nascent Soul cultivators were quite close to the hole. They all acted nearly simultaneously, using their secret techniques to wrest for control.
Wan Tianming was contending for the yellow light against Zenith Yin and Qing Yi. As a result, Wan Tianming ordered a purple flame dragon to chase after the yellow light. Simultaneously, he opened his mouth with a strange expression appearing on his face, directly shooting out two sparkling purple pearls towards them.
"True Heavensifting Mines!" When Zenith Yin saw these unremarkable pearls, he shouted out as if they were vipers.
The two didn't dare to use magic treasures to block them. They quickly dodged out of the way, but in that time, the purple flame dragon had swallowed the yellow light and was returning to Wan Tianming.
Wan Tianming excitedly clasped the yellow light and twisted his hands, revealing the ancient treasure's original appearance, a four pointed ornament. From the flickering talisman characters that flickered on its surface and its spiritual Qi fluctuations, one could tell its treasures was outstanding.
As for the two purple beads, they shot about ten meters away before they softly bursted and disappeared without a trace.
When Zenith Yin and Qing Yi saw this, their complexion turned ashen when they glanced at Wan Tianming fiddling with the jade ornament.
"What a truly great sect master of the Righteous Dao! To think he would use false tricks to deceive us!" Zenith Yin uttered each word through gritted teeth.
Qing Yi's face appeared just as gastly as he chillingly stared at Wan Tianming.
Wan Tianming sneered and returned their insults, "Who would've thought that these long famed cultivators, who even weren't able to see whether or not my True Heavensifting Mines were actually real, would be able to so shamelessly say those things in front of this Sect Master? Could it be that you didn't know that I would only use the True Heavensifting Mines during a matter of life and eath? They're hardly appropriate to use over treasures. As I must produce those weapons by harming my own cultivation, why would I be so wasteful? But of course, if you two Fellow Daoists wish to witness their true might, I am willing to make the exception." Wan Tianming softly clasped his hands. With a flash of purple light, the jade ornament could no longer be seen, instead replaced by a purple pearl that looked exactly the same as the one before.
Zenith Yin and Qing Yi's expressions changed and they glanced at each other with a gloomy expression as if they were both uncertain of his intentions.
At that moment, Man Huzi shrugged off a blow from the dark old farmer and Tian Wuzi with the overbearing defense of his Heavenbearing Devil Arts and managed to forcefully capture the white light. It was revealed to be a sparkling ancient coin.
When Zenith Yin saw this, his face became even more unsightly.
"Yi!" At that moment, Qing Yi shouted out as if he were amazed. Zenith Yin couldn't help but turn his gaze over, revealing a similar expression of astonishment.
At that very moment, Han Li was below the altar carefully examining a red-yellow Ruyi scepter in hand. It was finely carved with two lifelike carvings of wolf heads on each end.
It seemed this was the ancient treasure that had transformed into the two headed flame wolf. Not far from him, Wu Chou and the Bone Sage were hopelessly gazing at Han Li with resentful expressions. A trace of confusion flickered from Zenith Yin's eyes and he grew silent. He indeed felt quite shocked!
The treasure hadn't fallen into the hands of Zenith Yin or Wu Chou, but rather to Han Li, who hadn't displayed the slightest intent to act from the very start.
With the scepter in hand, Han Li rejoiced!