Chapter 195: Trace of a Fire Vein

Seeing this, Ye Feng gritted his teeth, his ten fingers moving like wheels as he rapidly formed hand seals, and he spat out two more streams of silver light that merged into the thunderball.

On the surface of the silver thunderball, countless lightning serpents writhed, and its volume suddenly swelled by a full circle. As the silver light blazed, it gradually suppressed the radiance of the giant sword.

Thick silver lightning bolts shot out from the thunderball like demonic claws, eager to tear Han Li apart.

"Indeed..." At that moment, Han Li murmured to himself, as if just coming to his senses.

But then his left hand fingers moved in rapid succession, and the silver and purple light on the giant lightning sword suddenly flared, emitting a roar like a sword's howl.

The giant lightning sword instantly doubled in size, bursting forth with towering two-colored electric light. Not only did it immediately withstand the massive thunderball, but it also quickly gained the upper hand.

Ye Feng's expression changed drastically. Before he could do anything, the giant lightning sword flashed again, and the lightning runes on its surface swelled.

The originally translucent giant sword suddenly became solid, and sharp auras emanated from its surface like sword qi, slashing down fiercely.

Rip!

The silver thunderball was easily split in two by the giant lightning sword, revealing the silver bead at its center, which now emitted a dazzling thunder light.

The giant lightning sword struck the bead with pinpoint precision, dispersing the thunder light around it once more.

The silver bead tumbled backward, its surface spiritual light dimmed considerably, clearly damaged in its spirituality.

Ye Feng spat out a small mouthful of blood with a "wa" sound.

Boom!

The split thunderball exploded, turning into countless silver thunderbolts that shot in all directions, transforming the area within several dozen zhang into a sea of silver lightning.

No one noticed a faint, nearly transparent silver light quietly emerge from the ground and silently merge into Ye Feng's body.

The giant lightning sword did not stop and continued to descend, appearing above Ye Feng's head in a flash.

Terror filled Ye Feng's eyes. He tried to resist, but the surrounding void was enveloped by the sword's terrifying pressure, solidifying like steel, leaving him unable to move.

However, the giant lightning sword stopped abruptly a foot above his head, with electric sparks flickering and crackling.

Ye Feng stared fixedly at the giant lightning sword, swallowed his saliva, and dared not move.

The next moment, the giant sword flashed and flew back, then disintegrated into countless silver and purple electric arcs that merged into Han Li's body like a whale drinking water.

"It seems you still lack some skill," Han Li said indifferently, waving his hand to form a hand seal, and the surrounding yellow light curtain dissipated.

"Elder Li, your divine abilities are astonishing. I concede defeat," Ye Feng said with a grim expression. After a moment of silence, he spoke, then waved his hand to retrieve the silver bead, turned, and quickly walked away.

The purple-haired man and the others hurriedly followed, soon disappearing into the distance. The sword-browed man also quietly withdrew.

Han Li watched the group leave, his gaze flickering.

Meanwhile, the round-faced youth had already deftly opened the restraints on the two-headed lion-eagle beast and released it.

The two-headed lion-eagle beast walked behind Han Li and docilely lay down.

Han Li patted the beast's neck, a smile appearing on his face, and waved his hand to release a green light that enveloped the giant beast's body.

Whoosh!

The massive two-headed lion-eagle beast rapidly shrank, turning into a ball of spiritual light that flashed and flew into a spirit beast pouch at his waist.

"Elder Li, your divine abilities are vast, but Ye Feng's master, Elder Mo Xie, is a true immortal who is said to have once participated in the election for Vice Dao Lord. You should still be careful," the round-faced youth reminded in a low voice.

"What else do you know about this Ye Feng?" Han Li asked after a moment's thought.

"I have not been long in the Candledragon Dao, so I don't know much about Senior Brother Ye Feng. However, it is said that he was once an ordinary inner disciple with mediocre talent and was not very noticeable. But in the last three hundred years, he learned a set of extremely powerful lightning divine abilities from somewhere, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, which earned him the attention of Elder Mo Xie. Now he has become a prominent figure among the inner disciples. His story is quite legendary and widely circulated in the Candledragon Dao," the round-faced youth said after thinking it over.

"I see," Han Li nodded slowly, his eyes flickering as if lost in thought.

The round-faced youth stood quietly by the side, not daring to disturb him.

Han Li soon came to his senses, took out a white jade bottle, and tossed it to the round-faced youth, saying, "You have accompanied me all day today and worked hard. These pills are for you."

The round-faced youth quickly caught the jade bottle, opened the stopper, and a look of great joy appeared in his eyes.

"Thank you for your generous gift, Elder Li!"

Han Li had already transformed into a green shadow and flew into the distance.

...

Half a day later.

A green streak of light shot over from afar and stopped at the peak of Red Cloud Peak. The light converged to reveal Han Li's figure.

The peak was quite spacious, with a courtyard built against the mountain wall, covering nearly ten mu. Inside were pavilions, towers, covered bridges, and water pavilions in an antique style, surrounded by drifting clouds, adding a touch of immortal atmosphere.

At the mountain wall deep within the courtyard were two tightly closed stone doors, which should lead to the meditation cave dwelling.

To the left of the courtyard was an empty medicinal herb garden, likely because the original owner of the cave dwelling, Elder Fire Refining, had fallen, and the herbs had been taken by the sect, leaving it untended for a long time.

Meng Yungui and the others were currently cleaning and tidying up various parts of the courtyard and the herb garden. Seeing Han Li return, they quickly stopped what they were doing and came forward to greet him.

"Elder Li!"

Han Li nodded, handed a purple-black jade token and the spirit beast pouch at his waist to Meng Yungui, instructed him to have someone dig a cave halfway up the mountain for the two-headed lion-eagle beast, and then began to wander around Red Cloud Peak.

This would be his residence from now on, so he naturally needed to thoroughly inspect every part.

After making a circuit, Han Li soon arrived at the foot of Red Cloud Peak.

The closer to the ground, the denser the surrounding red fire miasma became, and the higher the temperature. Now at ground level, a scorching heat emanated faintly from underground, hitting him in the face with a wave of heat.

He raised an eyebrow, not alarmed but pleased.

Earlier, on the Ink Spirit Mountain River Map, he had deduced from the mountain's terrain and the conditions of Red Cloud Peak that there was a strong fire vein here, which was why he had chosen this place. It was exactly as he had expected.

Judging by the scene before him, the power of the fire vein here seemed even greater than he had anticipated.

As Han Li pondered this, a hint of surprise suddenly flashed in his eyes. He looked in a direction to his left, then shot forward, arriving before a waterfall in a few breaths.

A wide silver ribbon of water fell from the sky, roaring as it plunged into the pool below, splashing up countless mist.

Han Li looked ahead, a serious expression on his face, and raised a hand to point.

"Crackle!"

A bolt of silver lightning as thick as an arm shot out, tearing through the air toward the waterfall.

As soon as the silver lightning touched the waterfall, it vanished without a trace, like a stone sinking into the sea.

"Indeed!" Han Li smiled upon seeing this.

The waterfall before him was actually a barrier transformed by a formation, and it had the ability to block spiritual sense perception, making it extremely sophisticated.

He had previously used his spiritual sense to scan the entire Red Cloud Peak but had not noticed this place. If he hadn't been nearby and the barrier had been somewhat damaged, revealing a clue, he might still have missed this secret.

After calming himself, Han Li looked at the waterfall with blue light flickering in his eyes, a contemplative expression on his face.

A moment later, green light flashed around him, and he plunged straight into the waterfall, vanishing instantly like the silver lightning before.

Rumble!

The void near the waterfall suddenly rippled, and a series of loud booms came from within. From the rippling void, multicolored rays of light occasionally shot out in all directions.

The void rippled more and more violently, and the light emanating from within grew brighter and brighter.

After about half an hour, a thunderous boom sounded!

The waterfall trembled violently and then shattered like a mirror. Han Li's figure appeared in midair, his face slightly pale, indicating that breaking this barrier had been quite taxing for him.

He took out a pill and swallowed it, then looked toward where the waterfall had been.

Before him was a small valley, with the ground and rocks showing a reddish color. A scorching heat emanated from within, and dense red fire miasma rolled out, as if this were the very source of the fire miasma on Red Cloud Peak.

Seeing this, Han Li flashed and flew into the valley, heading straight for its deepest part.

The temperature there was even hotter, and the air was distorted by the high heat.

At the deepest part of the valley, a large fiery red cave mouth appeared, about seven or eight zhang high. The cave walls on both sides were reddish-black, and rolling waves of heat and smoke-like fire miasma poured out.

Muffled rumbling sounds came from within.

Han Li's eyes lit up, and he flashed into the cave mouth.

It was a long tunnel extending underground. Hot wind blew out from within, and cracks frequently appeared on the cave walls, from which thick red fire miasma seeped out, drifting outward with the wind.

The entire tunnel was filled with an intensely hot aura. If an ordinary cultivator came here, they would likely be reduced to ashes in an instant.

With Han Li's cultivation, this level of heat naturally did not affect him. He headed straight deeper, raising an arm.

A ball of silver flame shot out and then transformed into a silver firebird, the Essence Flame Firebird.

As soon as the firebird appeared, it looked toward the depths of the tunnel, excitement in its eyes. It spread its wings and shot forward with a whoosh.

Han Li smiled slightly and followed unhurriedly.

The main reason he had chosen Red Cloud Peak as his cave dwelling was for the sake of this Essence Flame Firebird.

The bird's power had greatly diminished and had not recovered much. Previously, he had been too busy to attend to it, but now that he had a relatively stable place, he naturally had to consider helping it recover its strength as soon as possible.

Mo Guang had once mentioned that even in the Immortal Realm, this Essence Flame Fire was quite famous. He believed that once the bird fully recovered, it would once again become a great help to him.

In fact, ever since he first arrived at this Bell Tone Mountain Range, he had faintly sensed several abundant earth fire veins beneath the mountains.

Red Cloud Peak was located in a remote area, and the fire vein it possessed was likely just a branch of the vast fire vein system of the Bell Tone Mountain Range. But as long as he was willing to spend time, it should be enough to restore the Essence Flame Firebird.