Chapter 2069: Encountering Foreign Devilish Metal Again
A month later, several lizard-like devilish beasts emerged from the edge of the Illusion Howl Desert, and atop each lizard sat a person; they were none other than Han Li"s group, who were returning from the Bai Family mine.
After Han Li had been informed that the devilish lord had been slain by the burly man and the others, he and the purple-haired woman had immediately gone to meet up with the three devilish lords, and they had found the root of the devilish spirit in the end. It was a giant grey crystal, and even though it had lost all of its spiritual nature due to the destruction of the devilish spirit, it was still an extremely rare tool refinement material, which was immediately taken by the burly man.
Han Li didn"t ask for a detailed recount of how the devilish spirit had been destroyed, and the three devilish lords had no intention of telling him, either.
The group departed the day after the devilish spirit was destroyed and enjoyed a smooth return journey.
In the instant that everyone emerged from the desert, Han Li immediately felt as if his body had grown lighter, and his restricted magic power instantly returned to normal.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief as he experienced the abundant magic power surging through his body. Having so much magic power repressed in the Illusion Howl Desert was not a good feeling! He then couldn"t help but grimace at the thought that he would have to spend several decades in this desert next time.
Thankfully, the issue was successfully resolved, and he had even secured an extra devilish lizard. Now, all he had to do was await the arrival of the Long Family patriarch and everyone else.
The Bai Family had promised him the opportunity to select three treasures from their treasure vault as a reward for his efforts, and he was very much looking forward to this.
After recovering their magic power, all of the Body Integration Stage beings were naturally able to speed up dramatically, and it only took them less than half a day to reach Illusion Night City.
Several hours later, Han Li and everyone else was seated in a hall with antiquated decor within the Bai Family fortress, discussing something with the purple-haired woman in a relaxed manner.
However, the burly man was nowhere to be seen.
That made sense considering the entire Bai Family only had two devilish lords among their ranks, and both of them had been absent for over two months, so there were naturally some urgent matters that had to be addressed.
After a while, a person strode into the hall, and it was none other than the burly man.
"That was very fast, Brother Bai," Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon said as he turned to the burly man.
"Haha, there were only some minor tasks to be taken care of. Aside from that, I"ve brought all of you the rewards that we promised; please take a look, fellow daoists," the burly man replied before sweeping a sleeve through the air, sending a black bracelet flying toward each of Han Li"s trio.
Han Li and the others caught their respective bracelets, then swept their spiritual sense into them.
Moments later, satisfied looks appeared on both Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon and Han Qizi"s faces, and they stowed the storage bracelets away.
Han Li also put away his storage bracelet after a brief examination of its contents.
"I need some time to recover from the earlier battles, so I"m going back to my cave abode to rest now. Farewell, fellow daoists," Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon said as he rose to his feet right after stowing away the storage bracelet.
"I"ll also be taking my leave," Han Qizi said after a brief moment of contemplation.
As for Han Li, he remained seated firmly on his chair, and Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon and Han Qizi exchanged a slightly bewildered glance upon seeing this. However, Han Li"s expression remained completely unchanged, making it impossible for them to tell what he was thinking.
The burly man and purple-haired woman naturally asked them to stay as a formality, but the two insisted on departing, so they were accompanied out of the hall, then escorted out of the fortress by another Bai Family disciple.
Meanwhile, Han Li was sipping on a cup of spirit tea in the hall in a relaxed manner.
The burly man and purple-haired woman soon returned, and the former said in a meaningful voice, "You sure are able to keep your cool, Brother Han. Fellow Daoist Luan Dragon and Fellow Daoist Han Han Qizi have already departed; aren"t you afraid that we"ll refuse to give you the three treasures we promised you?"
As opposed to being enraged by this, Han Li merely smiled, and replied, "If you"re really that stingy, then the Bai Family wouldn"t be where it is today."
"Hehe, that"s true. If our Bai Family were to revoke our promise over a few treasures, then our reputation would be swept to the ground. Sister, accompany Brother Han to our treasure vault; he can have any three treasures that catch his fancy," the burly man chuckled.
"Yes, Big Brother. Come with me, Brother Han," the purple-haired woman said with a smile.
Han Li cupped his fist toward the burly man in a salute, then followed the purple-haired woman out of a side door.
Thus, the burly man was the only one left in the hall.
Following Han Li"s departure, his smile immediately faded slightly, and he sat down on the main seat in the hall before shaking his head, and murmuring to himself, "What a pity; if we had known that the devilish spirit would be destroyed so easily, there would"ve been no need to offer such a large reward. Having said that, the mine is now able to resume normal operation, so we"ll be able to recover these losses soon."
......
A few minutes later, Han Li arrived outside a mysterious pavilion that was enshrouded within layers of restrictions.
There were over 10 elite Bai Family disciples guarding the pavilion both out in the open and in the shadows, but none of them intervened as the purple-haired woman led Han Li into the hall on the first floor of the pavilion.
On either side of the hall were eight copper statues for giant malicious monsters striking menacing poses, and judging from the faint auras emanating from these statues, they were clearly another set of guards.
Between the statues were around a dozen rows of wooden shelves that were holding various devilish treasures, materials, and ingredients. There were also some containers of different materials, shapes, and sizes.
The purple-haired woman stood at the entrance and made a hand seal, then cast a series of incantation seals toward the eight statues. After that, she opened her mouth to release a purple jade pendant, which shot forth into the hall before vanis.h.i.+ng into thin air amid a dull thump.
In the next instant, the entire hall tremored slightly, and the restrictions in the hall were withdrawn.
"This is our treasure vault, Brother Han; you can choose three treasures among these," the purple-haired woman said with a smile as she withdrew her hand seal.
"Then I"ll go right ahead," Han Li replied with a smile.
With his enormous spiritual sense and vast wealth of knowledge and experience, he was able to quickly ascertain what most of the treasures on the shelves were. As for the rest, they either required careful examination or were things that he was seeing for the very first time, so he was rather intrigued by them.
He made his way over to a nearby wooden shelf, then picked up a material that resembled a piece of charred wood and began to carefully examine it.
The purple-haired woman merely stood at the entrance with a smile. It was clear that she wasn"t going to offer Han Li any suggestions and was going to leave it to him to select the three treasures.
After examining that material for a brief moment, Han Li placed it back down onto the shelf, then moved onto a neighboring shelf, where he picked up a jade box that was tightly sealed by several talismans.
There was a tag adhered to the surface of the jade box, and wisps of silver light were escaping out of it.
Han Li glanced at the tag on the box, then carefully examined its contents with his spiritual sense for a while before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
A slightly pained expression appeared on the purple-haired woman"s face upon seeing this.
After that, Han Li strode over to a palm-sized vial and removed the lid before taking a gentle whiff. A hint of hesitation appeared in his eyes, but he put the vial back down in the end.
Thus, Han Li continued to examine the treasures that caught his interest, but didn"t take anything else even after exploring most of the shelves.
This was rather surprising to the purple-haired woman as there were some treasures on the shelves that Han Li had pa.s.sed by that were no less valuable than the item in the jade box that he had taken.
Around 15 minutes later, Han Li arrived at the last two rows of shelves, then began to intently scrutinize a certain item.
This was a head-sized black and white rock that was giving off a cold gleam.
It was none other than the same Foreign Devilish Metal that he had seen in Blood Crow City, but this piece was over 10 times the size of that one.
Han Li stared at the piece of metal for a long while, then abruptly swept a sleeve toward it, stowing it away amid a burst of azure light.
The purple-haired woman was quite surprised to see this. Such a large piece of Foreign Devilish Metal was indeed quite rare, but compared to the other treasures here, it was one of the least valuable materials. As such, she was quite taken aback that a mysterious devilish lord like Han Li would take such an item.