Chapter 411: Familiar

Han Li's pupils contracted slightly. He naturally would not give this snow lion another chance to recover.

He formed a sword gesture with one hand, and the azure long sword immediately trembled with a hum. Wisps of golden lightning emerged on the blade, cascading down as a golden net of electricity, instantly engulfing the snow lion's head.

The streams of snowy white light that continuously gathered around burst apart upon touching the golden net, unable to penetrate even a fraction.

With a loud rumble,

the cold soul crystal within the snow lion's head, under the bombardment of interwoven golden lightning, completely shattered into powder.

Without the support of the cold soul crystal, its movements suddenly froze, and then its massive body crashed to the ground with a thud, dissolving like a force of nature into a pile of snow that scattered in all directions.

Without a word, Han Li casually waved his hand, and the azure long sword instantly turned into a streak of light, flying into his body and disappearing.

"Brother Liu is amazing!"

Lu Yuqing clapped her hands in praise, quickly stepped forward, crouched down, and began searching through the pile of snow.

After a moment, she stood up somewhat disappointed and said, "Brother Liu's attack was too powerful; this cold beast's cold soul has completely melted away, not a bit left."

"What use do you have for the cold soul?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Brother Liu may not know. This thing is extremely cold but not overly yin in nature. Although it's not as good as ten-thousand-year-old cold marrow, it has some of its functions... Anyway, it's good to keep it. In Black Wind City, it can be exchanged for quite a few spirit stones," Lu Yuqing explained.

Han Li nodded noncommittally, said nothing more, turned around, and walked into the valley, heading toward the cluster of buildings inside.

The mountain path into the valley was somewhat narrow, and the snow inside was even deeper than outside. One step would sink one to the waist. Han Li simply activated his magic power to cast a lightness spell, floating on the snow surface as he walked into the valley.

Seeing this, Lu Yuqing followed suit and trailed behind Han Li.

The two walked inward for about half a quarter of an hour without encountering any more cold beasts, smoothly arriving at a flat square.

As before, wherever there were buildings, the wind and snow diminished somewhat, and the snow was not deep.

The buildings in the valley were quite large, occupying almost the entire valley, resembling a market town. However, the structures were rather grand and ornately decorated.

Many of the pillars and eaves were engraved with profound array runes, but almost all had been damaged. The treasures stored here had naturally been taken by others, looted clean.

Han Li and his companion spent over half an hour examining each building one by one, finding only some damaged magical treasures, all useless junk.

After walking out of the last pavilion, Han Li glanced at the rear of the town and saw that the end of the valley was not a snowy mountain peak but a crystalline ice wall.

At the very bottom of the ice wall, there was a several-zhang-high arched tunnel that seemed to lead to the back of the valley, its depth unknown.

Han Li exchanged a glance with Lu Yuqing and slowly walked to the end of the valley, arriving beneath the arched tunnel.

The two peered into the tunnel and saw dim light inside, making it hard to see clearly. Only a white light was visible a few hundred zhang away, seemingly the end of the tunnel.

A blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes, and he immediately released his divine sense to probe into the tunnel.

After a moment, he shook his head to himself and walked in first.

Lu Yuqing opened her mouth as if to ask something, but seeing that Han Li seemed unwilling to linger, she hurriedly followed.

Entering the tunnel, Han Li found that not only the walls and ceiling but also the ground was made of blue ice, smooth as a mirror and somewhat slippery.

The tunnel was very quiet, with no sound except for their footsteps.

Han Li walked slowly, occasionally stopping to look around before continuing.

After repeating this three times, Lu Yuqing could no longer hold back her curiosity and asked:

"Brother Liu, why do you keep stopping? Have you found something?"

Han Li did not answer her immediately nor turn to look at her. He simply shook his head slightly and continued his actions.

Seeing this, Lu Yuqing had no choice but to follow helplessly.

When they reached the middle of the tunnel, Han Li stopped again.

He first stood still with his eyes closed for a while, then crouched down, placed a palm on the ground, and with blue light flickering in his eyes, fell into thought.

"There's movement beneath this," he said after a moment.

Lu Yuqing's heart stirred at the words, but before she could react, light gathered in Han Li's palm, and he suddenly pressed down.

Then came a cracking sound!

The ice beneath his palm suddenly split open, and a web of cracks spread outward.

Han Li stood up and stepped back a few paces. The area where he had pressed down sank, collapsing into an elliptical hole about a zhang in diameter.

From below the hole came the sound of wind, suggesting there was a large space inside.

Without a word, Han Li leaped into the hole and fell downward.

Before Lu Yuqing could ask what Han Li had found, she had already lost sight of him.

Helplessly, she had no choice but to jump down after him.

The two fell one after the other from the hole and soon landed on solid ground.

Steadying himself, Han Li felt the ground was somewhat soft and damp. Looking up, he saw the three-foot-thick blue ice layer above his head. This underground space was indeed a hidden world.

"Brother Liu, what is this place? It feels a bit strange," Lu Yuqing said, looking around and finding herself in a pitch-black underground passage, somewhat bewildered.

"Don't speak for now. Follow me carefully," Han Li said, making a shushing gesture.

Lu Yuqing immediately fell silent and obediently followed Han Li along the passage downward.

In the dark passage, they walked diagonally downward for over a hundred zhang before stopping.

Ahead of them, a faint light shone in, accompanied by a dull rumbling sound.

They exchanged a glance in the darkness, simultaneously concealed their auras, and continued downward.

At the end of the passage, the rumbling became clearer, echoing within the passage.

When Han Li reached the exit, he found himself on a cliff face.

Below the cliff was a huge underground cavern.

He looked toward the center of the cavern and saw flashes of sword light and constant explosions. Two figures seemed to be fighting several large cold beasts.

In the very center of the cavern, a fairly wide white stone square had been artificially created. It originally seemed to have a sizable hall, but now it was completely destroyed, reduced to a pile of rubble.

Han Li's gaze sharpened as he noticed the clothes of the two figures on the square looked familiar. One was a tall, middle-aged man wearing a somewhat loose black robe with a skull pattern embroidered on the collar, clearly a cultivator from the Ghost Cry Sect.

The other, a short, withered old man dressed in black short clothes and a black cloth covering his head, matched the attire of the Nanli tribe cultivators.

Earlier, Han Li's attention had been on the old man named Chen Pi and the four people with golden staffs, so he hadn't paid much attention to the others in the two factions. Thus, he had no impression of the specific names of these two.

Upon closer inspection, the withered old man, though short, was quite formidable. He wielded a golden halberd twice his height, swinging it like a golden fan, sweeping out huge golden arcs in the air.

Whenever the two several-zhang-tall snow lion cold beasts struck at him with their giant claws, they would be hit by the arcs. At the least, their legs would scatter into snow, leaving a shocking gash; at worst, they would break off entirely.

As for the middle-aged man from the Ghost Cry Sect, he used no weapons, fighting barehanded against two snow ape-like cold beasts. A white light shimmered around his fists, with faint blue dots flickering within, like a nebula.

With each punch he threw, the void before him would explode with a bang. The snow ape cold beasts, exuding chilling air, would have any part of their bodies that touched his fists burst into powder with a loud noise.

Although the two seemed to have the upper hand, swinging their fists and halberd with ease, they were actually fighting quite frustratingly. The cold beasts seemed immune to physical damage; no matter how severe their injuries, they recovered quickly.

Their recovery was similar to that of the snow lion Han Li and his companion had dealt with at the entrance, only even faster.

Most critically, besides these four cold beasts, a snow dove carved from ice stood on the palace ruins, its sapphire eyes seemingly intelligent, staring fixedly at them.

It could be imagined that once the two showed any lapse, the snow dove would suddenly strike with lightning speed, catching them off guard.

Unlike the four cold beasts, this creature could spit out silver ice threads like arrows from its sharp beak, which contained ice-attribute law power. Even though both were True Immortal cultivators, they dared not be careless.

Han Li watched the battle between the two and the cold beasts for a while, observing their techniques. His brow first furrowed slightly, then raised, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"What a coincidence. It's actually them?"