As the war unfolded, a storm roiled within the hill of stones inside Profound Jade Cave. A purple lotus enveloped Han Li as he held his hand in an incantation gesture. An exceptionally thin sliver of purple flames trailed into the huge light sphere in front of him.
In addition to Han Li’s own flames, black, white, yellow, and green glacial flames shot into them, all of them coming from other cultivators that were sitting in their lotuses.
At the moment, these five cultivators had pale complexions and tired faces.
The surface of the light sphere was wrapped in wandering flames where a single silhouette was sitting cross-legged.
No longer an old dwarf, Master Arctic Dragon now appeared to be three meters tall and his age regressed to a man of thirty years at the peak of his health. However, his face still contained a strong resemblance to his former self. It was truly an odd sight to behold.
At the moment, pure immense essence pierced into his shoulders, abdomen, and nape in the form of sparkling silver blades. Through they were embedded halfway, they didn’t leak even a drop of blood.
But what was most noticeable was the several various-colored light worms emitting from his half-closed eyes. The flesh from his body seemed to be a lair of them, as they continuously burrowed in and out from his flesh.
Each time a worm emerged, Arctic Dragon’s body trembled and agony briefly appeared on his face.
Under closer inspection, one would astonishedly discover that the worms were condensed from the different glacial flames. And each time the worms reemerged from his skin, it became smaller.
Once the worms shrunk to a certain extent, the light worm scattered in a bang. Immediately after, a strand of flame of an identical color would condense into another worm of light and burrow into Arctic Dragon’s body.
This scene continued repeatedly.
Also, there was an astonis.h.i.+ng sight occurring right outside his Dantian. There was a three-inch-large Nascent Soul that resembled Arctic Dragon. It had its hands clasped in an incantation gesture and its body was covered in layers of flickering blue flames. The light worms seemed to ignore the blue flames and parted through them, only for them to enter through the Nascent Soul’s nose and leave through its mouth a moment later.
The Nascent Soul was expressionless and the flames pulsed from its body, adding an air of mystery.
After an unknown amount of time, the man’s body violently trembled and he suddenly opened his eyes.
Han Li and the others seemed to have been given a sign and they all switched incantation gestures at nearly the same time. The huge light sphere above them collapsed into the various flames that originally formed it and were recalled to their original owners and the lotuses that surrounded each of the cultivators dissolved into air.
Afterwards, they took their medicine pills and they took out their spirit stones before entering a meditative rest.
This had continued as a cycle of several days over a dozen times over already. Each time, they would drain a majority of their magic power, but fortunately, they were rich with spirit stones and medicines and they were able to restore their power after only half a day.
When Han Li and company withdrew their glacial flames this time, Arctic Dragon closed his eyes as if meditating for the spell.
As time slowly pa.s.sed, the old woman eventually opened her eyes and examined Arctic Dragon still sitting within the sphere of light. She let out a deep sigh, “I truly admire Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon for being able to bear through the pain of the cleansing of five flames. Although we are meticulously controlling the power of the flames, the pain must be worse than death itself. It seems you’ve cultivated a body forging technique of some sort or your body would’ve already collapsed. It would be impossible to survive relying on spiritual sense alone.”
The azure-robed middle-aged man soon opened his eyes and smiled, “Lady Long is truly knowledgeable. Senior Martial Brother Arctic Dragon didn"t cultivate such a technique long ago. His body is far more durable than that of other cultivators.”
“No wonder!” The grey-robed monk added with a solemn expression, “However, we’ve nearly done everything we can, having already purified his essence several times with our flames. I figured that his body and Nascent Soul have already reached their limits and we are soon approaching the final stage. In two days, we’ll find out if it is a success!”
On the side, Han Li calmly stated, “But the Profound Jade Glacial Qi inside the formation seems somewhat lacking. We’ll may need to halt it temporarily to replenish it.”
Within the sphere of light, Arctic Dragon yelped with surprise, “I didn’t expect Fellow Daoist Han to understand the technique to this degree. That’s right, we’ll need to gather more of the Profound Jade Glacial Qi than what we sealed in.”
Han Li’s heart trembled and looked in his direction.
At an unknown time, Arctic Dragon had stood up and his figure was slowly floating upward from the condensed glacial light. The five blades piercing into his body had disappeared at an unknown time, leaving not the slightest injury behind. His face betrayed an enchanting smile.
Han Li chuckled and casually answered, “Really? That was only a guess!”
While Master Arctic Dragon took out a blue robe from his storage pouch and draped it over himself, he continued, “Brother Han already reached that level of understanding? How do you feel about my odds of success in breaking through this bottleneck? Are your thoughts any different than mine?”
Maintaining a calm face, Han Li casually replied, “You must be joking! The secret technique is your discovery. How can my understanding be greater than yours?”
Arctic Dragon chuckled and said nothing else. With his body still floating in the air, he flicked his fingers and several spell seals shot out, fading into the light barrier surrounding them as soon as they appeared.
The spell formation let out a series of strange drones before suddenly coming to a stop.
The five pillars of light disappeared in the blink of an eye and their respective cultivators floated down from them.
With the barrier gone, the storm of glacial light swept in from the outside but the cultivators were already prepared. They once again enveloped them in glacial flames.
“In the coming day, I will make slight revisions to the spell formation. Then, I’ll gather back the glacial Qi. Take this opportunity to rest as I still need your help. If we truly succeed, I will agree to any of your requests, so long as they are within reason!” Arctic Dragon stretched out his arms before saluting to Han Li and the others. He appeared completely sincere.
The old woman chuckled, “Do not worry, Fellow Daoist s.h.i.+. Since we’ve already come to an agreement, we’ll do our best. And if this technique is truly effective in progressing to Deity Transformation stage, we may try to make a similar attempt one day.”
The monk calmly added, “If any of us manage to enter late-Nascent Soul stage, there could be an opportunity.”
Han Li nodded but said nothing.
Arctic Dragon wore a satisfied expression and loudly uttered his thanks, then moving on to make a few alterations to the spell formation.
Han Li and the other two outside cultivators returned to the room of Great Yang Essence Stone to rest. A while later, the azure-robed middle-aged man and Bai Mengxin followed suit.
Although they easily restored their magic powers, their spiritual senses felt drained after controlling glacial flames for several days.
A day quickly pa.s.sed.
When Han Li and company left the stone room, Master Arctic Dragon was again meditating cross-legged in a sphere of glacial Qi at the center of the spell formation. The sphere of glacial Qi was several times larger than the day before.
It appeared he had done his due diligence. He had spent the entire day exposed to the outside.
Just as Han Li thought to examine the specific changes in the spell formation, he suddenly heard a strange sound from the monk’s mouth.
He looked behind him and saw that the monk was flying up in the air with an odd expression on his face.
His expression stirred and he quickly looked around him with a slight change in expression.
Not only did the exit to the cavern disappear, but the cauldron used to create it disappeared as well.
“Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon, what is the meaning of this?” When the old woman saw this, she lost her calm and wore a vigilant expression.
Arctic Dragon remained completely calm and replied with a smile, “Hehe, there is no need to worry. Because I don’t wish for anything to disturb us, I sealed the exit for the time being. I suspect I’ll also need to draw on the Celestial Blue Cauldron’s power to make the breakthrough.”
“So it was like that!” The monk and the woman exchanged a cautious glance. As for Han Li, he narrowed his eyes as he silently looked upward.
The atmosphere in the cavern became tense.
Arctic Dragon chuckled and spoke to the three outside cultivators with a pleasant face, “It seems my actions have been inconsiderate and have caused you to worry. It"s fine if I don’t use the cauldron. How about I have the Celestial Blue Cauldron placed outside of the cave? I will still have to seal the entrance temporarily.”
Soon after, he waved his sleeve and a cauldron wrapped in blue flames flew out from the cauldron and instantly flew a kilometer into the air, arriving just underneath the exit.
Although Han Li and the others didn"t reveal it, they appeared much more at ease now that the cauldron was far out of reach from Master Arctic Dragon.
After a moment of thought, the old woman’s tense expression eased and she heartily laughed, “Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon is quite thoughtful! How could any of us harbor doubts of you? We were only curious. Now that we’re pressed for time, let us continue in having you break through your bottleneck!”