Chapter 480: Seizing the Treasure
No trace of Han Li’s feelings were betrayed on his face. Instead, he approached the hole and took a deep glance. Han Li was astonished by the sight.
The hole wasn’t as amazingly deep as he had imagined. It only dropped to about a hundred meters. With his abilities as a Core Formation cultivator, he could clearly see a flouris.h.i.+ng ball of blinding blue flame. A black object could faintly be seen through the flickers of the blue flame. It seemed that this was the famous Heavenvoid Cauldron.
But when he leaned over the hole, he felt a bone-piercing cold spread throughout him. Even the White Rhino Emblem was unable to block most of the cold. He feared if he looked any longer, he would freeze over.
The brilliant blue flame at the bottom of the hole was actually releasing such a fantastical cold!
But after glancing at the blue flames for only a few moments more, his head started to spin. Aghast, he quickly turned his gaze away and collected himself.
As Zenith Yin stood by Han Li’s side, he stared at the hole and slowly said, “How was it? That was the Celestial Ice Flame, a flame that roars with a cold beyond freezing. Let alone Core Formation cultivators, even us Nascent Soul cultivators don’t dare to touch it. Even the slightest burn by the fire would cause a Nascent Soul cultivator to easily perish by refinement. It is said that this flame isn’t something that came from this world, and it is unknown how the ancient cultivators found such a thing.”
‘Even Nascent Soul cultivators would be refined?’ Han Li’s breath grew cold when he heard this. But soon after, his expression returned to normal.
If it weren’t for this flame, then the Heavenvoid Cauldron would’ve been seized long ago!
“Although the Celestial Ice Flame is extremely deadly to us cultivators, there are a few things that are resistant to it. For example, the gold thread from the Gold Threaded Silkworm, and the spider thread of the Bloodjade Spider along with unusual exceptions such as my two fire pythons.
“It’s about time for you to take out your Bloodjade Spider. Let us take a look at it.” Zenith Yin gave an order with an a.s.sertive tone.
With Man Huzi and Qing Yi staring at Han Li from behind Zenith Yin, Han Li didn’t delay any further. He clasped his hand on a spirit beast pouch on his waist, causing a streak of white light to fly out and circle around him before landing in front of him.
The light disappeared to reveal the Bloodjade Spider. When it saw so many strangers in front of it, it bared its fangs, and its eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with hostility.
Man Huzi and the others didn’t mind this in the slightest. They merely glanced at the spirit beast as if they were looking at treasure.
Just as Man Huzi glanced at Bloodjade Spider, his expression wavered and he said in a tone of amazement, “Tch tch! The Bloodjade Spider is quite large. It seemed to be a peak grade four demon beast on the verge of breaking through to grade five. It has a good chance of seizing the treasure!”
Zenith Yin also stared at the Bloodjade Spider with excitement and said, “Hehe! My junior disciple’s Bloodjade Spider is inferior in strength to some other antiquity variants. But it is an optimal choice for the purpose of seizing the Heavenvoid Cauldron.”
As acquiring the treasure was no longer a hopeless dream, Qing Yi appeared delighted. He said, “It is as Brother Wu says! This spider’s grade is far higher than the grade two Gold Threaded Silkworms. Even with just one spider, the odds of success are far greater than theirs.”
Seeing that there were no problems with the Heavenvoid Cauldron, Zenith Yin gave out his orders, “Let us start now! Any delay could bring unexpected events! Han Li have your spider spit out a net around the Heavenvoid Cauldron and have it pull it up. At the same time, I will have my two fire pythons a.s.sist your Bloodjade Spider.”
“Yes!” Although he felt unwilling, Han Li could only agree.
Zenith Yin coldly glanced at Wu Chou and the Bone Sage and ordered, “You two, go down below the altar. As the Heavenvoid Cauldron grows closer to the surface, the Celestial Ice Fire will as well. You will be unable to withstand it given your cultivation. As for Junior Disciple Han Li, I will have to trouble Brother Qing to protect him.” He then turned to Qing Yi and smiled.
The old man agreed with a chuckle, “Well said. In order to to acquire the Heavenvoid Cauldron’s Heavenmend Pill, I cannot allow Young Friend Han to fall to any surprises.”
Wu Chou and the Bone Sage obediently descended from the altar and took several steps back.
Han Li inwardly sighed after seeing the covetous gazes of the three old devils and issued the command to his Bloodjade Spider. It immediately shot out a web of thread into the hole.
Having arrived this far, Han Li could only take it a step at a time. He hoped that when he acquired the treasure, Zenith Yin would find it too embarra.s.sing to immediately cut ties with Han Li, giving him a moment of respite. This would hopefully allow enough time for the Bone Sage to deal with Zenith Yin and give Han Li an opportunity to the turn his situation around. As for the Heavenvoid Cauldron, he didn’t particularly care whether or not he could take it out.
This was because he knew his situation wouldn’t change regardless of success or failure in acquiring the treasure.
As Han Li was inwardly planning out his countermeasures, Zenith Yin arrived at the opposite side of the hole from Han Li. He took out a pitch-black spirit beast pouch from his robes and turned the pouch upside down. With a flash of red light, two fifteen-meter-long, fire-red pythons appeared on the ground.
These two fantastical pythons had bright red scales the size of fingernails. Their heads were both imprinted with a wondrous design consisting of talisman characters. Their eyes were sparkling with red light as if they contained blazing flames.
After Zenith Yin’s fire pythons unfolded themselves from their spiral resting position, he immediately flicked his sleeves at them, shooting two black medicinal pills at them. The two pythons swiftly caught them in their mouths and swallowed them.
“Go.” Zenith Yin pointed towards the hole.
The two fire pythons slowly slivered towards the hole in a lazy manner.
When Zenith Yin saw this, he solemnly clutched his hands into an eccentric incantation gesture and mumbled a series of cryptic incantations, resulting in an astonis.h.i.+ng scene. The fire python’s bright red scales were stained black during the incantation, and they enthusiastically began to follow Zenith Yin’s orders.
Peng! Peng! The two fire python’s tails fiercely stabbed into the ground nearby the hole, cutting about a meter deep. They then dropped their upper halves into the hole and began to stretch out as if they were boneless. Their tails held firm onto the ground. It seemed as if they had turned into two black-red ropes.
During Han Li’s amazement, the ropes twisted for a moment. Zenith Yin appeared delighted by this and clutched his hands. He quickly shouted towards Han Li, “It’s ready! They are biting on the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Quickly, have your spider draw it up. Although the fire pythons have consumed my medicine pills, they cannot withstand the Glacial Ice flames for long. We must succeed in one go!” A trace of malevolence was betrayed on Zenith Yin’s face when he said this. Han Li inwardly snorted at the sight.
Han Li begrudgingly scorned in his mind, ‘It seems quite possible I will lose my life if the treasure is successfully seized. Now I am even more willing to allow this to fail.’
But still, he forced himself to have the Bloodjade Spider start pulling up the cauldron. This was because Man Huzi and Qing Yi were eyeing his every move like tigers watching their prey. Were he to purposefully hold back, he wouldn’t be able escape discovery from these two old cunning foxes.
Under Han Li’s begrudging command, the white translucent thread immediate became taut. The bloodjade spider began to slowly move back. At that same moment, the black-red ropes began to twist and pull back.
With a series of dull rumblings, the platform started to sway. Blue light wildly dazzled from the hole, blinding Han Li. He was forced to turn his gaze away. As for the Bloodjade Spider, it ignored it and continued to pull with all its strength.
Upon seeing this, Qing Yi nervously muttered to himself, “Good, the Heavenvoid Cauldron is already swaying.”
It was clear that the Heavenvoid Cauldron was extremely heavy. Even with the Bloodjade Spider and two fire pythons exerting their full strength, they were only able to cause the Heavenvoid Cauldron to repeatedly sway . It seemed it wasn’t about to be lifted anytime soon.
Zenith Yin didn’t reveal the slightest impatience. Instead, he muttered to himself for a moment and puffed out two wisps of black smoke that entered the bodies of the fire pythons. He then turned to Man Huzi and quickly said, “Brother Man, I must trouble you to use the Berserking Technique on the Bloodjade Spider. My junior disciple lacks the magic power to fully use this technique.”
“Leave it to me.” Man Huzi replied without surprise. It seemed he had already antic.i.p.ated this. He stared at the Bloodjade Spider and muttered quickly. He then opened his mouth, faintly revealing the red light within it.