Chapter 429: Withered Vine

While pondering, Han Li formed a sword incantation with his hand, and the green sword lotus spun as it flew downward, heading toward the starry prohibition.

Instantly, a loud hissing sound arose as streaks of extremely sharp sword qi shot down, striking the prohibition.

Cold Flame Ancestor also let out a loud shout, flicked his hands repeatedly, and offered up those flying knife spirit treasures, muttering incantations under his breath.

The twelve flying knives radiated great spiritual light, expanding against the wind, and in an instant transformed into twelve hundred-zhang-long giant knives, carrying a strong sound of wind and thunder as they slashed toward the starry prohibition.

A series of rumbling booms rang out. As formidable as this starry restriction was, under the swift and fierce joint assault of Han Li and the other person, it quickly became untenable. The starlight on its surface flickered wildly, and after a moment, it finally shattered with a loud bang, revealing the scene beneath.

Han Li swept his gaze over and was momentarily stunned.

Within the spirit field under this restriction, there were actually more than a dozen blue spirit herbs, each several feet tall.

The main stem and leaves of this grass were crystalline and translucent, as if cast from some kind of semi-transparent blue jade, with dazzling starlight radiating from between the branches and leaves—extremely extraordinary.

These blue spirit grasses had surprisingly not been taken away by the Golden Immortal.

Lu Yuqing, standing by, also showed surprise on her face. In contrast, Ancestor Lengyan seemed to have expected this, revealing no astonishment at all.

"Could these be... Star Radiance Grass!" Han Li mused briefly before also recognizing these blue spirit herbs, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes.

This grass was a renowned spirit herb imbued with the power of starlight. After countless days and nights bathed in starlight, it contained extremely pure star power, making it an excellent material for refining star pills.

Judging by the size of these herbs, they must be at least five hundred thousand years old.

If he could obtain some Star Radiance Grass, even just one or two stalks, and refine them into pills, it would greatly shorten the time needed to cultivate the latter half of the "Great Cycle Stellar Origin Art."

Just then, a beam of crystalline light suddenly shot out from the side, enveloping the dozen or so Star Radiance Grass plants—it was Cold Flame Ancestor.

His ten fingers moved in rapid succession, and the Star Radiance Grass was instantly uprooted entirely, wrapped in the crystalline light, and flown back.

Cold Flame Ancestor waved his hand and unceremoniously stored all the Star Radiance Grass away.

Han Li's expression shifted slightly at the sight, but he said nothing.

"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Han. If there's any place where you need my assistance later, I certainly won't refuse," Cold Flame Ancestor said with a smile, not mentioning the division of the herbs at all.

Han Li looked at Cold Flame Ancestor but did not speak.

"Fellow Daoist Cold Flame, these herbs were discovered by Brother Han and..." Lu Yuqing frowned and couldn't help but say.

She was cut off mid-sentence by Han Li raising his hand.

"Since Fellow Daoist Lengyan discovered these Starfire Herbs first, they naturally belong to you. There is no need for further discussion." Han Li said indifferently, turning and walking toward the spirit field at the deepest part of the medicinal garden.

Lu Yuqing cast a cold glance at Patriarch Lengyan before turning to follow.

Patriarch Lengyan kept a smile on his face as he followed, a hint of self-satisfaction flickering deep in his eyes.

After so many interactions, he had come to understand Han Li's temperament. He had originally planned that once Han Li brought up the matter, he would go along with it and yield some of the spirit herbs to the other party, using this as leverage to gain some favors from Han Li in other aspects later.

But unexpectedly, the other party seemed concerned about face or something similar, and after a bit of prodding, gave up the fight for the Starfire Herbs.

Still, this was even better; he could continue to follow this man and reap some benefits.

Of course, he would be careful to keep things within bounds.

The three soon arrived before the final spirit field.

Han Li examined the purple barrier before him, let out a soft shout, and formed hand seals.

The azure sword lotus radiated intense light, growing larger once more. It spun rapidly, and lotus petals detached from the sword lotus, shooting out to transform into over a dozen thick, crystalline giant swords that struck the purple light screen.

Each giant sword emitted an extremely terrifying aura fluctuation and a dense sword pressure, causing the void to tremble as they passed.

Bang bang bang!

The crystalline giant swords struck the light screen, erupting into clusters of dazzling electric sparks, but every single giant sword was repelled without exception.

The purple light screen trembled slightly, then immediately returned to calm.

Seeing this, Han Li frowned. This purple barrier was far more resilient than he had anticipated.

Lu Yuqing also acted immediately.

Giant azure wind blades shot forth, striking the barrier before them.

Patriarch Lengyan also offered up his flying blades, slashing at the purple barrier.

With the three joining forces, the momentum grew considerably, but the purple barrier showed little reaction, easily blocking all their attacks.

"It seems this barrier is extraordinary; ordinary methods may not break it. Let's use the Grand Five Elements Spirit-Collecting True Light to break it," Han Li said, waving his hand to offer up the three spiritual treasures.

Patriarch Lengyan said nothing more and also offered up the other two spiritual treasures, casting spells to activate them.

Moments later, a thick five-colored light pillar descended from the sky, and clusters of five-colored spirit orbs shot out from within, striking the purple light screen.

A continuous rumbling sound echoed as the entire medicinal garden shook and trembled.

Although the purple light screen was extremely tough, the Grand Five Elements Nihility-Devouring True Light was even more profound. Under repeated bombardments, the purple light screen gradually thinned, soon becoming only a thin layer.

Han Li's eyes flickered. He formed a hand seal and pointed.

A dozen crystalline giant swords blazed with light and slashed heavily onto the purple light screen.

With a loud "bang!"

The purple light screen, unable to withstand the assault, shattered, revealing the scene inside.

Han Li and the other two immediately looked inside.

The spirit field here was a muddy swamp, covered in purple-black sludge, with large purple bubbles occasionally emerging and bursting with a bang.

A purple gas spread out, mixed with rolling heat waves.

Above the swamp floated a thin layer of purple mist, faintly visible with tiny arcs of electricity flickering within, and the air was filled with a chilling aura.

Though the purple-black sludge appeared filthy, it contained extremely rich spiritual power, along with fluctuations of lightning energy, clearly not ordinary soil.

"Thunder Marsh Rest Soil!" Han Li murmured to himself as he looked at the purple-black sludge.

Over the years, in order to cultivate various spirit herbs, he had painstakingly studied the methods of preparing different spiritual soils, and his knowledge of such soils could be considered master-level.

This Thunder Marsh Rest Soil was an extremely precious spiritual soil, the best for cultivating lightning-attribute spirit herbs and medicines.

However, the method for preparing this soil had long been lost. Han Li had previously searched for it diligently but never found it. He never expected to see it here.

With a wave of his hand, a flash of golden lightning appeared, and two Dao soldiers materialized.

"Collect this Rest Soil," Han Li said, taking out two storage pouches and tossing them to the Dao soldiers.

The two Dao soldiers took the pouches, turned around, and began quickly gathering the spiritual soil.

Leng Yan Patriarch, seeing Han Li's actions, his expression shifted slightly. He also waved his hand, sending out a beam of light to collect a patch of purple sludge nearby.

Lu Yuqing furrowed her delicate brows, seeming quite disgusted by the purple sludge, and made no move to collect any.

Han Li glanced at Leng Yan Patriarch, then turned his gaze to the center of the spirit field.

There, another purple light barrier, hemispherical in shape, covered the field.

He moved and flew over.

Lu Yuqing stepped lightly and followed.

Seeing their actions, Leng Yan Patriarch abandoned collecting the Thunder Marsh Rest Soil and hurriedly followed.

This purple light barrier was identical to the outer purple lightning restriction, but appeared much thinner.

Han Li did not use the Grand Five Elements Nihility-Devouring True Light. Instead, he summoned the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and struck it a few times, breaking it open.

Beneath the barrier was a purple stone altar, a full zhang in height, built entirely of purple crystal blocks, inscribed with lightning patterns that seemed to form some kind of profound array diagram.

Atop the altar, there was another layer of purple restrictive light screen, like a lid covering the top, obscuring the view inside.

"One after another—how many layers of restrictions are there?" Lu Yuqing couldn't help complaining.

Han Li's eyes flickered as he noticed two humanoid puppets lying on the ground beside the altar.

These two puppets were dark gold in color, exuding a sense of power, identical to the bronze puppet he had encountered when obtaining the "Grand Heavenly Cycle Star Origin Art."

However, one of these puppets had been cleaved from head to toe, revealing its internal structure, while the other had been decapitated. Both had lost their spiritual nature and become dead objects.

The wounds on the puppets looked fresh, clearly inflicted not long ago.

Seeing this, Han Li's expression darkened.

It seemed that person had also been here. Even if there were treasures in the stone altar, they had surely been taken.

Leng Yan Patriarch and the other also realized this, and their expressions turned grim.

After taking a deep breath, Han Li shook his head slightly, stopped dwelling on it, and turned to look at the two bronze puppets. He lingered a moment longer on the decapitated one, a faint strange glint in his eyes.

The next moment, he raised a hand and sent out a beam of green light, which wrapped around the two puppet remains and stored them away.

With these two bronze puppet remains, especially the decapitated one whose puppet core was undamaged, Crab Daoist should be able to repair one puppet.

Han Li was well aware of the bronze puppet's power. Having one by his side would certainly be a great help in critical moments.

Leng Yan Patriarch's eyes flickered, seeming slightly regretful, but he quickly regained his composure.

Han Li put away the puppets, then flicked his finger toward the stone altar. Two green flying swords shot out, crossed, and slashed at the purple light screen, twisting violently.

This layer of purple restriction was not strong and shattered easily.

Han Li and the others looked inside and were all taken aback.

On the ground inside the stone altar, a wooden rack was set up, entwined with a long vine that had not yet been harvested.

However, although the vine was long, it was completely withered and grayish-brown, clearly dead, and from the surface traces, it seemed to have died long ago.