Chapter 198: Dogshit Luck

Several days had passed in the blink of an eye.

In the eastern part of Candle Dragon Dao, there was a remote snow valley, rarely visited by anyone because of its proximity to the Molten Snow Forest, the sect's trial grounds.

Inside the valley grew many snow pines towering a hundred zhang high. After every snowfall, they would be completely covered by thick snow, looking from afar like smooth, white snow pagodas.

At this moment, in the snow valley, rumbling thunderclaps sounded from time to time, interspersed with the cracking of tree branches.

The loud vibrations on both sides of the valley caused snow and ice that had accumulated on the slopes for who knows how many years to slide down toward the center, colliding and churning together, eventually forming a mighty avalanche torrent that surged out of the valley.

Because there was so much snow, the continuously piling and accumulating snow blocks pushed all the way outside the valley before the momentum gradually subsided. However, the air was still filled with a hazy mist of crystalline snowflakes drifting about.

Just then, a rainbow light streaked down from the sky above the valley mouth, landing at the edge of the piled snow, revealing the figure of Han Li, dressed in the robes of an inner sect elder.

"Boom!"

Another thunderclap roared.

Han Li's eyes flickered as he looked deep into the snow valley, where a huge silver lightning pillar was rising straight into the sky.

"So it's here," he murmured to himself. With a pinch of his fingers, a purple, hazy Taiyi Purification Talisman materialized.

With a flash of purple light, his figure gradually blurred and eventually vanished from the spot.

Inside the snow valley, under the impact of the massive snow flow, countless snow pines shattered and broke, buried under the snow stream. Everywhere were exposed broken branches and stumps of trees.

At the deepest part of the snow valley, on a high protruding stone cliff, sat a thin, dark-skinned young man cross-legged. His gaze was fixed ahead, his eyes shining with blazing light. It was Ye Feng, who had clashed with Han Li in the spirit beast garden a few days ago.

At this moment, light flickered on his body, and wisps of silver lightning continuously swam on his skin, clearly indicating he was cultivating a rather powerful lightning secret art.

Within a radius of several hundred zhang around him, whether it was snow, trees, or exposed rock and soil, everything was scorched black, with wisps of white smoke still rising.

"Hahaha..." Realizing his lightning power had increased again, the dark-skinned young man couldn't help but laugh heartily.

But just as his laughter began, before his mouth even closed, his whole body suddenly froze, as if struck by a paralysis spell, motionless and stiff. The electric light on his body also vanished with a crackle.

At that moment, a strange fluctuation rippled in the void before him, and Han Li's figure emerged, his two fingers pressed together and pointing at Ye Feng's brow.

At the same time, two deep blue lights that shook the mind shone in Han Li's eyes. He was directly using a soul secret art to search Ye Feng's soul.

Earlier, in the spirit beast garden, he had planted a soul mark on Ye Feng.

However, in the past few days, he had been busy comprehending the *Formless True Wheel Sutra*, and Ye Feng had stayed in his cave dwelling without any movement. So it was only today, when Ye Feng came out to test his lightning arts, that Han Li found the opportunity to pursue him here.

As the soul search progressed, Han Li's expression changed slightly—first cautious, then surprised, and finally a faint, somewhat helpless smile appeared on his face.

After a moment, the blue light in his eyes gradually faded, and he withdrew his finger from Ye Feng's brow, murmuring to himself:

"You really did have dogshit luck. Since the past has nothing to do with you, I won't hold it against you. But today, it's time to return what belongs to its original owner."

With that, he reached out and removed the storage bracelet from Ye Feng's wrist. After a brief inspection, he casually tucked it into his bosom.

Then, his body blazed with light, transforming into a rainbow light that shot into the sky and vanished in a flash.

Ye Feng slowly came to, his mouth finally closing after being open for a long time. He raised a hand to rub his sore cheek, a look of confusion in his eyes, naturally having no memory of what had just happened.

But when he saw his empty wrist, he panicked. He quickly stood up and frantically felt around his body, then immediately released his divine sense to scan the surroundings.

"No..."

Soon, a desperate, hysterical cry echoed through the snow valley.

...

As for Han Li, he returned to his residence without stopping and went straight into the cave dwelling's secret chamber. He didn't even notice Meng Qianqian greeting him with a joyful expression along the way, causing the young girl to silently complain for a long time.

After sitting cross-legged in the center of the secret chamber, he immediately took out the storage bracelet, refined it slightly, and then turned his palm over to retrieve a golden sphere the size of a chicken egg.

At first glance, the sphere showed no peculiarity, but when Han Li observed it with his Brightclarity Spirit Eyes, he found it covered with extremely exquisite shallow fine lines, interconnecting into a series of naturally formed mysterious patterns.

Moreover, from the sphere emanated waves of an aura that felt very familiar to Han Li.

He held the golden sphere in his palm, blue light blazing in his eyes, and a strand of divine sense crystal thread extended from between his brows, probing toward the golden sphere and slowly merging into it.

With a buzzing tremor, the runes on the golden sphere suddenly lit up, casting a dazzling golden light that illuminated the entire secret chamber brilliantly.

The golden sphere split open along several deep grooves, like a mechanism separating, and from within extended metal limbs; after a series of metallic clashing sounds, it unexpectedly transformed into a golden crab the size of a palm.

“Daoist Crab…” Seeing the golden crab appear, Han Li immediately called out tentatively.

The secret chamber was utterly silent, with no echo in response.

However, a moment later, a familiar voice sounded in his sea of consciousness.

“Daoist Han, it’s you… you’ve finally found me…”

Even when communicating through divine sense, Daoist Crab’s voice was still very faint, as if it might break off at any moment.

Hearing these words, an indescribable feeling surged in Han Li’s heart.

“Daoist Crab, do you still remember what happened three hundred years ago? How did you end up in such a state?” Han Li suppressed his chaotic thoughts and asked directly.

“Oh, has it… been three hundred years?” Daoist Crab hesitated slightly and said somewhat woodenly.

After a brief pause, his voice became noticeably steadier.

After a long silence, he began to recount, bit by bit, what had happened back then to Han Li.

Han Li managed to stay calm at first, but the more he heard, the darker his expression became, and the tighter his other fist, hanging at his side, clenched, with veins bulging clearly on his arm.

It turned out that back then, before he encountered the ambush by Fang Pan and the other two, he had already faced another formidable enemy.

That person's cultivation level far surpassed his, and his immortal spiritual power was also far greater. Not long after the fight began, Crab Daoist and his seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were easily sealed by that person one after another.

As for himself, after sustaining severe injuries, he only managed to barely escape by leaving the Gold Devouring Beetle King and Mo Guang and others to desperately hold the rear.

Afterward, while Mo Guang and the Gold Devouring Beetle King joined forces to briefly entangle that person, Crab Daoist did not hesitate to self-destruct his immortal puppet body to break the seal, leaving only a puppet core carrying the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords to flee in panic.

"...During my flight, after my core's spiritual power was exhausted, I could no longer control the flying swords and could only watch them break through the air and leave on their own. After that, I lost consciousness and fell into a deep slumber until today, when you awakened me. I wonder what happened afterward?" Crab Daoist slowly recounted.

"Later, the core you transformed into was picked up by someone and brought to a market near the Candle Dragon Sect for sale. It was sold as an ordinary refining material to a mediocre inner disciple of the Candle Dragon Sect. By chance, this person discovered some hidden spiritual patterns inscribed on the core through his divine sense and actually comprehended a set of thunder techniques of considerable power from them. Thus, he turned his luck around and became a proud son of the inner sect. I also happened to notice clues from his thunder techniques and traced them back to you." Han Li sighed and explained thus.

"So that's how it was..." Crab Daoist listened and was also filled with myriad emotions.

"I was initially worried that this person might be connected to the formidable enemy you mentioned, but after a soul search, I found that the kid had just gotten incredibly lucky. Before this, I had already killed two enemies who had ambushed me back then and learned that there was a big shot behind them, most likely the person you mentioned. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out that person's identity. Do you still remember what that person looked like, or do you know who he is?" Han Li probed.

Hearing this, the golden crab standing in Han Li's palm slowly trembled as it held its head with its two pincers, appearing somewhat pained.

After a long silence, Crab Daoist's voice sounded again in Han Li's sea of consciousness:

"For some reason, my memory seems to have problems. I clearly have a vague outline, but I can never recall that person's face... The only thing I can remember is that his immortal spiritual power far surpasses yours, and he seems to possess an inkstone-shaped immortal artifact that can control the power of shadows..."

"Indeed... Actually, it's not just you; even Fellow Daoist Mo Guang and I have no impression of that person, nor do we remember what happened three hundred years ago." Han Li said, having expected this.

"If that's the case, things are really not good..." Crab Daoist said with some worry.

"I suspect that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords are now also in the Zhongming Mountain Range, but I can't find them for the time being. However, fortunately, I have already found you, Fellow Daoist Crab. Later, I will find a way to refine a new body for you, but I can't say whether it will reach your previous level." Han Li said with a contemplative expression.

"Then I thank Fellow Daoist Han. Besides that, I hope Fellow Daoist Han will not forget the agreement we made back in the Spirit Realm." Crab Daoist reminded him again.

"Of course. After my cultivation has made some progress in the future, I will fulfill the agreement." Han Li nodded.

Upon hearing this, Crab Daoist said nothing more. With a flash of light around him, he turned back from a crab into a round ball and was put away by Han Li.