Chapter 428: Broken Tree

After instructing the Dao soldiers to collect the spirit herbs, Han Li remained motionless, forming a hand seal and pointing. The green sword formation immediately flew toward another nearby medicinal field, humming as it activated.

Countless green sword qi descended like rain, enveloping the restrictions of the medicinal field and quickly breaking them.

Immediately, some of the Dao soldiers swarmed over and gathered all the spirit herbs.

Around the medicinal fields whose restrictions had been broken, light flickered, and the restrictions slowly condensed again, just like the starlight barrier outside the garden, able to regenerate on their own.

Seeing this, Han Li showed admiration.

This Minghan Palace had existed for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, and it was already astonishing that the restrictions here were still functioning normally. That they could even regenerate on their own—the person who set up these restrictions must have had a truly terrifying mastery of formations.

His curiosity grew about this mysterious Minghan Immortal Lord, the master of this vast palace, and what kind of person he was.

With precious treasures before them, the three naturally went all out, quickly stripping the outer medicinal fields clean.

However, Han Li, using his sword formation to break restrictions and Dao soldiers to collect herbs, was extremely efficient, far surpassing Cold Flame Ancestor and Lu Yuqing, so most of the spirit herbs fell into his hands.

During this time, he also lent a hand to Lu Yuqing, breaking the restrictions on several medicinal fields for her, which made Cold Flame Ancestor quite envious, though he could only smile bitterly.

Then the three arrived at the depths of the garden. Here, the medicinal fields were far larger than those outside, and the restrictions were bright and dazzling, making it nearly impossible to see the spirit herbs inside from the outside.

Han Li swept his gaze, confirmed there was nothing unusual nearby, and immediately urged the sword formation to envelop a glaring red restriction light barrier, slicing and cutting fiercely.

Cold Flame Ancestor and Lu Yuqing also each chose a medicinal field restriction and began to break it with their spells.

This time, however, when the countless sword qi from Han Li's Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword formation struck the red barrier, the barrier trembled continuously but showed no signs of shattering for a while.

Han Li frowned and changed his sword formula.

The green sword formation suddenly shrank, converging toward the center. After spinning rapidly, it transformed into a massive green sword lotus.

He chanted incantations, and the lotus petals slowly bloomed, each petal revealing dazzling golden arcs of lightning that crackled as they slammed down onto the red barrier.

Each petal firmly clamped onto the red barrier, then twisted and tore.

The red barrier twisted violently, held on for a while, and finally, with a loud bang, shattered into countless red streams of light.

Han Li rejoiced inwardly and quickly looked inside, but his smile suddenly froze.

On the medicine field within the light shield, a yellow-brown spirit tree grew. Its trunk appeared very rough, with deep, dry cracks covering it, yet it gave off a vibrant, lively feeling, clearly no ordinary tree.

But this spirit tree had been cut in half from the middle, leaving only a stump here. The cut was still fresh, with tiny drops of yellow sap seeping out.

Han Li walked over to the tree stump, his face contemplative.

Cold Flame Ancestor and Lu Yuqing were about to break the restrictions on other medicine fields. Seeing this, they also stopped and came over.

"It seems someone arrived here before us. Looking at the cut, it was clearly done not long ago, probably within a day," Cold Flame Ancestor judged, examining the cut.

Han Li nodded, then glanced up at the starry restriction above.

No wonder the starry restriction had been so easily broken—someone had already broken it once before?

Although the restriction could restore itself automatically, the time was too short; it had only recovered a fraction of its power, so they had broken it easily.

"Who was it? Could it be that Xiong Shan?" Lu Yuqing murmured.

"No. Although Xiong Shan arrived at the Youhan Palace a bit earlier than us, there clearly wasn't enough time for him to come here and break the restrictions," Han Li shook his head.

"Then who could it be?" Lu Yuqing couldn't help asking.

"I don't know, but that person didn't touch the spirit herbs and medicines in front. Whether he looked down on them or was pressed for time, it's hard to say. There don't seem to be any signs of a struggle here, so it's likely the former—probably some Golden Immortal senior." Han Li shook his head and said thoughtfully.

There were many Golden Immortals who entered the Minghan Immortal Mansion, so he couldn't determine which one it was.

Leng Yan Patriarch and Lu Yuqing exchanged glances upon hearing this, discussed a few words, then dispersed to continue破解 the restrictions on the medicinal fields they had their eyes on.

Han Li looked at the half tree trunk before him, lightly touched a bit of the yellow sap with his finger, and brought it to his nose to sniff. His spirit immediately lifted, and the divine sense in his mind felt a sense of peace.

His eyes brightened. He waved his hand to send out a beam of green light, which enveloped the tree trunk. Carefully, he dug it up along with its roots and the surrounding spirit soil, then stored it away.

Although he didn't know what kind of yellow spirit tree this was, since it caught the eye of a Golden Immortal, it was definitely a precious tree.

Though the tree had been cut down, Han Li had the Vial of the Azure Sky in hand, so there was still hope of reviving it.

After doing all this, his figure flickered and he arrived beside another medicinal field. He formed a hand seal and pointed.

The sword lotus in midair whistled down, enveloping a bright blue restriction on this medicinal field.

The thick lotus petals sliced against the light barrier, producing a rumbling roar.

After a dozen breaths, the blue light barrier burst with a bang, revealing the medicinal field below.

Han Li looked inside and his expression darkened.

The spirit herbs in this medicinal field had also been harvested, and this time the harvesting was very thorough, even the roots had been dug up.

He snorted, his form flickered, and he flew to another medicinal field. He formed a hand seal and pointed.

The sword lotus shot over and descended toward the cyan restriction above this medicinal field.

A quarter of an hour later.

With a "bang," an orange-yellow restriction shattered, revealing the medicinal field beneath.

Han Li looked into the field, his expression slightly dark.

The spirit objects in this field had also been dug up, leaving a large hole several feet deep in the spirit field.

He shook his head and looked away.

By now, most of the restrictions on the spirit fields deep within the medicine garden had been broken by the three of them.

Of course, the vast majority had been broken by him.

The spirit medicines here had all been taken by that outsider, leaving the three with nothing.

Some spirit objects had left behind roots and stems. Leng Yan Ancestor and Lu Yuqing had no interest in these roots, but Han Li did not let a single one go and collected them all.

At the moment, Leng Yan Ancestor and Lu Yuqing were each still breaking a restriction on a spirit field.

Han Li glanced at the two, then looked away toward the deepest part of the medicine garden. There, a medicinal field was a full hundred zhang in size, far larger than the others.

The entire field was covered by a thick purple light barrier, with purple arcs of electricity flowing on its surface, exuding a powerful aura, appearing indestructible, like a purple giant beast crouching on the ground.

This medicinal field was clearly different from the others, so the three had not touched it and left it for last.

Han Li looked at the purple restriction, a strange glint in his eyes, and was about to form a hand seal to activate the sword lotus.

Just then, a "boom" of a crisp explosion came from not far away. It was Lu Yuqing breaking a restriction, revealing the medicinal field beneath.

The restrictions here were all more formidable than before. The woman's face was somewhat pale, clearly having expended a great deal.

Lu Yuqing took out a pill and swallowed it, then looked inside with her beautiful eyes, only to show disappointment.

The things in this spirit field had also been taken, dug up by the roots, leaving two large holes in the ground.

However, that person seemed to have dug in a hurry, leaving a few shiny white roots behind.

Lu Yuqing pouted and was about to turn away.

"These look like bamboo roots of spirit bamboo. Unlike other spirit herbs, even just the roots, if properly cultivated, can take root and sprout, growing new spirit bamboo, which is quite valuable. It would be a pity for Miss Lu to abandon them," Han Li said, having come over unnoticed.

"Brother Han recognizes this spirit bamboo?" Lu Yuqing's face lit up, and she asked.

"I don't recognize it either, but these silver roots look extremely extraordinary. Presumably, the spirit bamboo that grows from them is also of immortal quality, otherwise it wouldn't have been planted here by the garden's owner. If we can find a knowledgeable buyer, these roots can fetch a good price," Han Li shook his head and said.

Lu Yuqing nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, waved her hand to emit a cyan light, carefully dug out the silver roots beside the two large holes, and put them into two jade boxes.

She put away one jade box and handed the other to Han Li, saying, "Thank you for the guidance, Brother Han. Otherwise, I might have missed this opportunity."

Han Li did not stand on ceremony and directly accepted the jade box.

He was indeed very interested in these silver spirit bamboo roots.

A rumbling sound came from another direction. Leng Yan Ancestor was currently activating a set of flying knife spirit treasures, twelve in total, all of which appeared to be of extremely high quality, transforming into streaks of blade light, furiously attacking a light blue restriction.

But the surface of this restriction shimmered with starlight; it was a star restriction and extremely tough.

He had been attacking for a while, but although ripples like water waves appeared on the surface of the star restriction, it remained unmoved.

Leng Yan Ancestor looked somewhat anxious and glanced toward Han Li not far away.

A contemplative expression appeared on his face, then he stopped and flew over.

Han Li was examining the silver roots in the jade box. Seeing Leng Yan Ancestor approach, he put the jade box away.

"Fellow Daoist Han, that restriction is quite troublesome. Could you help break it?" Leng Yan Ancestor cupped his fist and said.

"A trivial matter, Fellow Daoist Leng need not be polite. Miss Lu, let's go take a look together," Han Li said with a faint smile.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han," Leng Yan Ancestor said, his face showing joy.

Soon, the three arrived beside the star restriction that Leng Yan Ancestor had mentioned.

Han Li's eyes flickered as he looked it up and down.

This restriction was extraordinary; he had actually noticed it long ago and had originally planned to break it later, but Leng Yan Ancestor had beaten him to it. He hadn't thought much of it at the time.