Chapter 1244: Maze Upon Maze

"How did you fare?" Han Li glanced at Xiao Bai and Lan Yan.

"We hit the jackpot! Who would have thought Gui Lingzi's cave had so many treasures!" Xiao Bai waved his fists, speaking with great excitement.

A flicker of excitement also flashed in Lan Yan's eyes, but she quickly suppressed it, took out a storage device, and handed it respectfully to Han Li with both hands, saying softly, "Fellow Daoist Han, this is what I gathered from three rooms."

"Take a tenth for yourself as your reward." Han Li did not take the storage device, speaking calmly.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han." Upon hearing this, a hint of excitement also flickered in Lan Yan's eyes.

The contents of the storage device were priceless; even a tenth was a vast fortune for her, something she would never have dared to imagine in her past.

"As for you, Xiao Bai..." Han Li looked at Xiao Bai.

"Master, I found these things, so don't you get any ideas!" Xiao Bai covered the storage bracelet on his wrist.

"I know, but I'm in need of immortal spirit stones lately. You keep half of those things and give me the other half." Han Li gave a wry smile and said.

Xiao Bai cheered, flipped his hand to take out another storage device, and began transferring the items inside.

"Master, there's something I'd like to ask for your help with." Ti Hun, who was nearby, suddenly spoke up.

"What is it?" Han Li asked.

"Master, come with me." Ti Hun said, turning and walking over to the black crystal coffin at the center of the stone chamber's formation.

Only then did Han Li remember the crystal coffin and walked over.

He had been so focused on finding Jin Tong and searching the rooms for treasures that he had momentarily forgotten about it.

He looked into the coffin, and his expression changed slightly.

Inside the crystal coffin lay a white skeleton covered in pitch-black talismans, looking very eerie. Especially in its two hollow eye sockets, two points of blood-red flames flickered, emitting rings of blood light.

The entire skeleton exuded an extremely evil aura, as if it were the embodiment of all evil in the world.

The evil avatar suppressed within Han Li stirred restlessly, as if being provoked. He quickly averted his gaze and returned to normal.

"What a sinister skeleton. Do you recognize this thing?" Han Li asked after calming himself.

"If I'm not mistaken, this skeleton should be the Skeleton of Ultimate Evil, refined from the bodies and souls of ten thousand inherently evil people who committed heinous deeds, using secret techniques. It is of great help in severing the evil avatar." Ti Hun said excitedly.

"So such a thing exists." Han Li raised an eyebrow at this sight.

"Master, this item is very useful to us. With this Skeleton of Ultimate Evil, it will be much easier for you, me, Xiao Bai, and Jin Tong to sever our evil avatars. However, this crystal coffin is fixed here. To safely remove the Skeleton of Ultimate Evil without damaging it, we need to break the surrounding formation. This formation is powerful, and I need your help." Ti Hun said.

"No problem. Go ahead and retrieve it; I'll help you break the formation." Han Li nodded upon hearing this.

"Then I'll trouble you, Master. With the Capital Heaven Divine Thunder, breaking this formation shouldn't be difficult." Ti Hun was delighted and immediately began to cast her spell.

Streams of dense black qi erupted from her body and merged into the formation on the ground.

The formation patterns within were stimulated, immediately glowing brightly and humming as they activated.

Near the crystal coffin, eight black chains materialized, connected to the formation below, firmly locking the coffin in place. Each chain exuded a startlingly cold aura.

Ti Hun opened her mouth and spat out a ball of white light, which split into eight and merged into the eight black chains.

The eight black chains immediately turned half-black, half-white, and their cold aura greatly diminished.

Moreover, a layer of separation appeared between the crystal coffin and the eight chains, isolating them.

"Master, now! Cut the chains!" Ti Hun shouted.

Hearing this, Han Li expressionlessly flicked his fingers, and eight beams of golden light shot out from his hand—the eight Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords—striking the eight chains.

Bang bang bang!

The eight chains shattered, and the black crystal coffin suddenly burst with dazzling black light, flying up from the ground.

Seeing this, Ti Hun was overjoyed. She reached out with her jade hand and grasped the void, and a huge black hand materialized, grabbing the black crystal coffin.

At the same time, her other hand waved, and a small dark red tripod cauldron appeared—the Yanluo Cauldron that Han Li had given her earlier.

A patch of dark red light sprayed out from the Yanluo Cauldron, enveloping the black crystal coffin. With a flash of light, the coffin vanished, taken into the space within the Yanluo Cauldron.

"Thank you for your help, Master." Ti Hun relaxed and then thanked Han Li.

"It was nothing. Besides, this item is useful to me as well, so no need to thank me." Han Li said indifferently.

By then, Xiao Bai and Lan Yan had also flown over and handed two storage devices to Han Li.

Han Li took them and probed with his divine sense, a hint of joy appearing on his face.

The treasures in these two storage devices were mostly spirit herbs, beast materials, and the like, and there were plenty of them. Unfortunately, there were no immortal spirit stones, which he wanted most.

That was normal; light items like immortal spirit stones would be carried on one's person. What was left in the cave would only be things not often used but taking up a lot of storage space.

Gui Lingzi's real treasures should all be in his storage device.

But he didn't mind. The items he had obtained could be sold for seventy to eighty million immortal spirit stones.

"We've delayed enough. Let's go and chase Qu Lin." Han Li said, turning back the way they came.

Ti Hun and the others immediately followed, and the group soon returned to the previously collapsed stone chamber.

The passage back was blocked by collapsed boulders. The group used spells to move the stones aside and hurried along the path, soon arriving at a fork.

Han Li immediately activated his Netherworld Fiend Eye to examine the traces of spiritual power here, and his brow furrowed.

There were very few traces of spiritual power here, mostly left by him, Lan Yan, and Qu Lin when they passed through earlier. But the traces of Qu Lin's return were completely invisible, as if he had used some method to conceal his tracks, and his technique was extremely skillful.

Moreover, Qu Lin had led them into a trap earlier, and Ti Hun hadn't detected his ill intent, showing how deep his concealment was.

Han Li snorted inwardly, unwilling to give up, and fully activated his Netherworld Fiend Eye to see whether Qu Lin's concealment technique or his Netherworld Fiend Eye was superior.

A faint purple-black light flickered in his eyes, vaguely forming two whirlpools, as he looked into the passage ahead.

After a moment, a smile appeared on Han Li's face, because his Netherworld Fiend Eye finally captured a trace of extremely faint golden light in the passage, extending along one of the paths.

These golden lights were scattered and extremely faint; if his Netherworld Fiend Eye were not nearly perfected, it would be impossible to detect them.

"Master, have you found Qu Lin's trail?" Ti Hun asked.

"Yes, follow me." Han Li nodded and led Ti Hun and the others along the trail of golden light.

In the blink of an eye, half a day had passed, and Han Li and the others were still in the underground passages.

These underground passages were as dense as a spider's web, leading in all directions, extending to who knows where.

At this point, the underground space they were in no longer had any trace of cold aura, clearly far from the Ghost Valley's range, but there was still no sign of an end ahead.

Along the way, there had been some restrictions and obstacles in these passages, but none were very formidable, and many had already been destroyed, so they did not hinder Han Li and the others.

"Lan Yan, do you know why there are such long underground passages here? Do they have any special purpose?" Han Li asked Lan Yan.

"I had a low status in the Nine Yuan Temple before and only visited the Inner Temple a few times, let alone knowing its secrets." Lan Yan said with a bitter smile.

Han Li grunted in acknowledgment and did not ask further, continuing forward.

After flying forward for a while, at the limit of their vision in the passage ahead, streaks of golden light suddenly appeared, interweaving chaotically.

The golden light contained fluctuations of the law of metal, and also transmitted a majestic aura like a towering mountain.

Han Li's eyes flickered, and he stopped.

"Have we finally reached the end?" Ti Hun and the others also halted their flight, standing behind Han Li.

"I don't know if it's the end, but since there's a change ahead, we can't be careless. You three should continue to hide in the Flower Branch Space to be prepared for any eventuality. I'll project the outside scene into the Flower Branch Space, so rest assured." Han Li said solemnly, opening the entrance to the Flower Branch Space.

"Alright, Master, please be careful." Ti Hun said and flew into the Flower Branch Space.

Lan Yan followed closely. Only Xiao Bai seemed reluctant, but after glancing at Han Li, he had no choice but to fly in as well.

After putting away the three, Han Li activated the black mask to conceal his form and crept forward, soon reaching the end of this passage.

At the end was a golden wall, made of a gold-like ore, from which the golden light emanated.

Up close, he could more clearly feel the strong law of metal emanating from the wall.

"This is Heaven's Absolute Gold Rock!" Han Li's eyes lit up.

Heaven's Absolute Gold Rock was a metal-attribute law material, though not as valuable as Heaven's Gold Diamond, it was still very precious. He hadn't expected to find so much here; if he sold it all, it would be a considerable sum.

He then chuckled and shook his head. Lately, he had been obsessed with earning immortal spirit stones, wanting to sell everything he saw. Being too greedy was not good.

Han Li shook his head, calmed his mind, and once again fixed his gaze on a corner of the golden wall ahead.

There, a hole about a foot wide had been broken through, extending forward, looking as if it had been gnawed out.

The hole was winding, and only faint rays of light could be seen coming from the other side, indicating that there was another world beyond the wall.

The wall was imbued with restrictions. As soon as his divine sense approached, it was brusquely repelled by an invisible force, preventing him from probing the situation inside.