Immediately thereafter, spiritual light flashed from the head, and a miniature humanoid figure that was several inches in size was forcibly drawn out. The humanoid figure was identical in appearance to the brocade-robed man, and it was none other than his Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul had a white stone lock hanging in front of its chest, which was releasing a layer of silver light threads to protect its body, but it wore a horrified expression as it yelled, "You can"t kill me! The Blue Water Sect is a renowned sect in Deep Heaven City, and I"m the sect master. If you kill me, you"ll definitely be hunted by the law-enforcing cultivators of the Tian Yuan Region! You can take these; they are the two most prized treasures of our Blue Water Sect. On top of that, I"m willing to lead the way to all of the treasures in our sect as long as you"re willing to spare me!"
The white-robed young man"s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and it seemed that he really was interested.
The Nascent Soul was shown a glimmer of hope, and it continued in a beseeching manner, "I don"t know why you suddenly attacked us, but I presume it has something to do with the materials that our sect is delivering. I"m willing to offer all of these materials to you as we..."
Before the Nascent Soul had a chance to finish, a sinister smile suddenly appeared on the white-robed young man"s face, and one of his hands shot forth in a blur to grab onto the Nascent Soul.
Immediately thereafter, white light flashed from his fingers, and the protective threads of light around the Nascent Soul"s body were instantly crushed into nothingness.
After that, the young man abruptly withdrew his arm and tossed the Nascent Soul into his mouth before swallowing it.
At the same time, another male voice rang out from nearby. "Hehe, well done! This idiot was asking for death! Even in this dire situation, he dares to offer you all of those things that don"t even belong to him; his death is very much well deserved!"
As soon as the voice trailed off, spatial fluctuations rippled through the nearby s.p.a.ce, and a golden humanoid figure appeared.
This was a burly man in a long golden robe with his hair arranged in a very strange manner. Most of his face was obscured by a busy curly beard, but his deep yellow eyes were clearly visible, and the mere sight of them was enough to strike the onlooker with a sense of dizziness.
The white-robed young man took a cold glance at the golden-robed man before paying no further heed to him, and reaching out to make a downward grabbing motion.
The bead that had fallen onto the ground and the white flag were both drawn up into the air before hovering in front of the white-robed young man.
The golden-robed man merely gave a nonchalant smile in response to the white-robed young man"s cold demeanor, and he raised a leg, seemingly in a casual manner, before covering a distance of several hundred feet in just a single stride, taking him to only several tens of feet away from the white-robed young man.
All of a sudden, a burst of low buzzing rang out from where the young man was standing, and six transparent wing projections appeared on his back before rapidly vibrating at a rate that was untraceable to the naked eye.
Countless faint white saber projections surged forth in a frenzy from the six wings, forming a sea of white blades that inundated the bead and the flag.
The two treasures only managed to release spiritual light and resist for an instant before they were shattered amid dull thumps within the sea of blades.
A hint of elation appeared on the white-robed young man"s face upon seeing this, and the countless blade projections were immediately withdrawn at his behest, leaving only two piles of treasure fragments, one blue and one white, hovering in mid-air.
After that, he began to chant something while making a hand seal, then blew a gust of air toward the treasure fragments.
An astonis.h.i.+ng scene ensued.
A burst of golden flames erupted from his mouth and swept up the two piles of treasure fragments, and moments later, they had fused as one with the flames.
Only then did the white-robed young man take a deep breath to draw the golden flames back into his body.
Immediately thereafter, golden light abruptly flashed around him, and a golden halo that was around the size of a wagon wheel appeared behind his head. However, the halo only appeared for an instant before it crumbled away into countless golden runes.
A hint of elation flashed through the golden-robed man"s face upon seeing this, and he murmured, "The Blue Water Sect"s cultivation arts are quite ordinary, but its Extreme Blue Bead and White Water Flag are extraordinary treasures refined from 49 types of extreme glacial materials. On top of that, among the things that they"re delivering, there"s a ma.s.sive Profound Yin Crystalline Wall that can only be formed once every 1,000,000 years. This is a mandatory material for you to manifest a true spirit body, so we can"t waste it no matter what."
Right as he was speaking, the golden light around the white-robed young man"s body completely faded, and his aura seemed to have become slightly more powerful than before. It wasn"t an extremely noticeable improvement, but it was still very alarming that he had made a noticeable improvement at all in such a short span of time.
"Where is that Profound Yin Crystalline Wall? Aside from these two treasures, I haven"t sensed any other glacial treasures from these people; is your information incorrect?" The white-robed young man finally spoke, and his voice was as cold as ice.
"There"s no way my information could be wrong; I spent a lot of spirit stones to purchase it from the Myriad Avenues Sect! They wouldn"t dare to try and swindle me; if they did, I"d destroy their entire sect! The item in question must"ve been sealed, and you"re still unable to sense it at your current level of power. Let me give you a hand with that," the golden-robed man chuckled.
He then turned toward the surrounding cultivators, who had been reduced to ice statues, before abruptly thrusting a palm forward.
A resounding boom rang out, and the ice statues exploded into b.a.l.l.s of spiritual light alongside the storage treasures that they were carrying.
All types of items flew through the air, and a cold light flashed through the golden-robed man"s eyes as his hand shot forth like lightning before withdrawing just as quickly.
One of the items in the air hurtled directly toward him, falling into his grasp in a flash.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that this was a yellow jade box, but it had many crimson talismans plastered onto its surface, giving it an air of mystery and intrigue.
The golden-robed man glanced at the item before tossing it directly to the white-robed young man with a smile.
The young man appraised the oncoming yellow jade box with a cold expression, but displayed no intention of catching it with his hands. Instead, one of the wing projections on his back fluttered slightly, and a burst of white light shot forth from it before striking the jade box in a flash.
A loud crack rang out, and the jade box was sliced apart like tofu along with the talismans on its surface, following which a fist-sized object fell out of it.
Before the young man had a chance to identify what this object was, it flashed with blue light before instantly transforming into a blue crystalline wall that was 3 feet thick and around 10 feet tall. The crystalline wall then plummeted straight downward, and a rare hint of a smile appeared on the white-robed young man"s face at the sight of the wall.
In the next instant, he opened his mouth to expel a flood of white glacial Qi, which completely froze the blue crystalline wall in mid-air.
Immediately thereafter, he let loose a low cry, and his body blurred as he suddenly split up into 12 identical projections.
Each and every projection had the exact same appearance as the original white-robed young man, with the same golden and silver patterns on their faces, and the same transparent wings on their backs.
The 12 humanoid figures then made hand seals in unison, transforming into 12 snowy white centipedes, each of which was several feet in length, and then vanished into the crystalline wall in a flash.
12 white b.a.l.l.s of light then instantly emerged from different parts of the blue crystalline wall, and they rotated incessantly while fluctuating slightly in size.
Blue light swirled within the crystalline wall, and wisps of blue threads emerged before surging collectively into the 12 b.a.l.l.s of white light.
A slightly solemn look appeared on the golden-robed man"s face upon seeing this, but after a long while, the 12 white b.a.l.l.s of light continued to absorb the blue threads without any mishaps, and his expression finally eased slightly. At the same time, a complex look flashed through his eyes.
"I don"t know if I was vastly fortunate to have encountered you, or if you"re the fortunate one to have met me right after I mastered the Reverse Spirit True Yin Technique. Not only do I possess White Dragon True Blood, my bloodline mutated, thereby allowing me to cultivate this incredibly powerful ability from the inner page of the Golden Jade Tome that somehow ended up in the human race. Even more coincidentally, you"re a traitorous spirit insect that belonged to that man that my clone in that lower realm once mentioned to me. How interesting! I wonder how you will react when you next meet that Han brat after you manifest a true spirit body."
A cold harrumph suddenly rang out, following which the white-robed young man"s voice sounded in the golden-robed man"s ears. "My reaction in that scenario doesn"t seem to have anything to do with you, Fellow Daoist. Judging from what you just said, it seems that the clone of yours in the lower realm was quite close to my former master. I wonder how he would think if he knew that your true body was plotting against him here in the Spirit Realm."
"Hehe, that Endless Sky clone of mine was created as nothing more than a precautionary measure; it has no bearing on me. If you can master this Reverse Spirit True Yin Technique prior to my next heavenly tribulation, and this technique really does turn out to be as extraordinary as I envision it to be, then you should be able to a.s.sist me in transcending my next few tribulations without any issues. As for that Endless Sky clone, it"ll naturally be made completely redundant, so who cares about it?" the golden-robed man chuckled in a nonchalant manner.
"Then you don"t have to be overly concerned about my former master, either. As long as I can manifest a true spirit body, I"ll naturally be able to eradicate bonded blood curse within my soul. However, I ask that you don"t do anything unnecessary behind my back prior to that," the white-robed young man replied in a cold voice.
The golden-robed man"s expression changed slightly upon hearing this before he chuckled coldly, "Hehe, you think far too highly of me. That Han brat has already reached the Body Integration Stage; I won"t be able to do anything to him even if I wanted to."
The whit-robed young man was silent for a moment before replying, "I certainly wouldn"t be fooled into thinking that given your ident.i.ty, Fellow Daoist."
"You know who I am?" The golden-robed man"s eyes abruptly widened upon hearing this, and two b.a.l.l.s of yellow light appeared within his pupils, creating quite a startling sight to behold.