Chapter 444: Completely Empty

After Han Li and Lu Yuqing steadied themselves, they both let out a long breath.

Although the teleportation array had finally activated, seemingly sending the two out, it suddenly collapsed at the last moment. They were then thrown into a spatial turbulence and barely managed to escape.

The spatial rift flickered a few times and abruptly closed, vanishing.

Han Li glanced around, a hint of surprise appearing on his face, and immediately released his spiritual sense.

Lu Yuqing looked at the surroundings, relief in her eyes. She took out a green pill and swallowed it. A green aura flickered on her face, and her complexion improved somewhat.

"Where is this place? Could we have been teleported out of the Minghan Immortal Mansion?" she asked, catching her breath and carefully examining the environment, speaking with some unease.

When a teleportation array malfunctions, even a slight deviation can lead to a vast error, let alone the two directly falling into a spatial storm.

"Probably not. Although it's very thin, I can still sense the unique chill of the Nethercold Realm. We should still be inside the immortal mansion," Han Li said slowly.

"That's good." Lu Yuqing sighed in relief.

"That teleportation array is already destroyed. Those from the Blood Cold faction are likely in dire straits and probably won't pursue us. Let's rest here for a while," Han Li added.

Lu Yuqing was quite injured at the moment, and although he was not hurt, his immortal spiritual power was nearly depleted from escaping the spatial turbulence.

Although this place looked desolate, it seemed safe for now.

"Alright." Lu Yuqing, who was just hoping for that, immediately nodded.

Thus, the two landed on the Gobi desert, set up a few barriers around them, and then sat down cross-legged.

Han Li took out two immortal essence stones, held them in his hands, and absorbed the immortal spiritual power within to replenish himself. His immortal spiritual power slowly recovered.

After half a day.

Han Li opened his eyes, his gaze bright. His immortal spiritual power had fully recovered.

Having traversed the Nethercold Immortal Mansion, encountered various situations, and fought in successive battles, his immortal spiritual power had become subtly purer.

With this thought, he closed his eyes and sensed the last immortal aperture, but there was still no sign of a breakthrough.

He smiled wryly and shook his head, then turned to look aside.

Lu Yuqing was still meditating with her energy circulating, her entire body enveloped in several layers of azure light that formed a glowing orb, making her figure appear somewhat hazy.

Han Li withdrew his gaze and waved a hand, causing a bluish-gray stone slab to appear in his hand—it was the latter half of the "Great Cycle Stellar Origin Art" he had obtained earlier.

He had been busy searching for treasures and fighting before, so he hadn't had time to carefully examine this latter half of the technique.

As he pondered, a blue light flickered in his eyes as he looked at the stone slab in his hand.

The slab suddenly appeared several times larger in his eyes, and the small characters on it became clearer, entering his vision.

After a full hour, the blue light in Han Li's eyes faded, and he slowly closed his eyes.

He had fully comprehended and memorized the latter half of the "Great Cycle Stellar Origin Art."

Like the first half, this latter half also contained methods for opening eighteen mysterious apertures.

Based on his earlier estimates and calculations, as long as he could master this latter half and open these eighteen apertures, breaking through the final immortal aperture should not be a problem.

Cultivating the latter half of the "Great Cycle Stellar Origin Art" was the same as the first half: both involved drawing starlight into the body to open the mysterious apertures.

However, this latter half of the technique was very complex, far surpassing the first half. In particular, the process of opening the mysterious apertures was even more intricate, requiring not only a large amount of starlight but also a considerable period of body-tempering cultivation. Its demands would far exceed those of the first half.

At this moment, he wished he could set aside all trivial matters and immediately find a place to go into seclusion for intensive cultivation. But the Minghan Immortal Palace was clearly not a good place for cultivation, and time was limited. He still had to help Daoist Hu Yan retrieve some treasure in exchange for the subsequent techniques of the True Word Wheel Sutra. He could only wait until matters in the Minghan Immortal Palace were concluded.

Han Li took a deep breath, waved his hand to put away the bluish-gray stone slab, opened his eyes, and gazed into the void ahead, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

He had no idea where Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were at the moment, nor what exactly the treasure the other had mentioned was.

The situation in this Minghan Immortal Palace was far more complicated than he had imagined. The area was so vast, and with his random wandering, he had no idea where to find them.

Han Li shook his head and was about to close his eyes when his brow suddenly lifted, as if he had thought of something else.

He raised a hand, and with a faint golden flash, a pale gold storage bracelet appeared in his hand—it was Xiong Shan's storage bracelet.

He hadn't had time to examine this item yet. Thinking that this man, as a sword cultivator of considerable skill, seemed to have many tangled connections with the Wusheng Sword Sect, and had arrived at the Youhan Palace even earlier than himself, his storage bracelet should contain many good things.

Han Li felt a bit excited and sent a strand of divine sense into the storage bracelet. The smile on his face immediately froze.

Contrary to his expectations, the storage bracelet of this deputy sect master of the Zhulong Dao, a dignified late-stage True Immortal realm cultivator, was completely empty!

To say there was absolutely nothing wouldn't be entirely accurate. In a corner of the storage space, there were some scattered materials and other odds and ends, but none of them were valuable.

The only things worth showing off were probably a few bottles of recovery pills and a few ancient texts; there weren't even many immortal essence stones, making it look extremely shabby.

Han Li frowned slightly, then immediately understood.

Xiong Shan had exhausted all his resources last time when forging his sword, and now, only a few hundred years later, it was normal for him to have depleted his wealth for this second forging.

This time, he had probably headed straight for the secret realm upon entering the Nethercold Palace, without time to gather treasures, which was why his storage magic tool was so bare.

Han Li felt a bit disappointed, but then he reconsidered and slowly let out a breath.

He had already gained much within the Nethercold Palace; wanting more would be greed, and that was not a good sign.

With that thought, his mood quickly calmed. He waved his hand to take out the contents of the storage bracelet, glanced over them roughly, and put them away in categories.

Soon, only a silver jade box remained before Han Li, containing three jade slips.

In truth, he was quite interested in the cultivation technique Xiong Shan had practiced, so he picked up a white jade slip and probed it with his divine sense.

This jade slip recorded a technique called the "Great Mourning Yang Sword Art," a metal-attribute technique that could be cultivated to the Golden Immortal realm, likely Xiong Shan's main cultivation method.

This "Great Mourning Yang Sword Art" entered the Dao through the sword; according to its description, the law power it comprehended belonged to the metal element of the five phases, sharp and irresistible, somewhat similar to the law of destruction.

Han Li had little experience with metal-attribute techniques and had no intention of studying this path, so this technique was of no use to him.

However, the end of the technique recorded some sword Dao secret arts and insights, which were worth his study and reference.

He read through the entire technique from beginning to end, then placed it back in the jade box and picked up another pale golden jade slip, immersing his divine sense into it.

This jade slip recorded a body-refining technique called the "Arhat Golden Body Art," which should be the body-refining art Xiong Shan had used when climbing the stairs outside the Nethercold Palace.

This body-refining technique was also quite extraordinary; after mastering it, one could manifest the Arhat Golden Body with considerable power, but to cultivate it, one had to master metal-attribute laws.

Seeing this, Han Li lost interest. He roughly scanned the content, set it aside, and picked up the last jade slip, pressing it to his forehead.

The jade slip contained some pill formulas, mostly metal-attribute pills. Although they were not Dao pills, most were Earth-grade pills, quite useful for True Immortal realm cultivators practicing related techniques.

Han Li withdrew his divine sense, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

None of the three jade slips contained records of the "Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Formation." Could Xiong Shan have destroyed it?

As he pondered, he was about to put the jade box away.

"Eh!"

At that moment, Han Li let out a soft exclamation, picked up the jade box, and fiddled with it.

With a soft "click," the jade box split in two from the middle, revealing a hidden compartment below containing a gray object that looked like a piece of cloth, folded neatly.

"What is this?" Han Li picked up the gray cloth.

The gray cloth was square-shaped, dull and gray, like a dirty rag that hadn't been washed in a long time. But upon closer inspection, faint patterns could be seen on it.

These patterns looked very strange; they were not ordinary array patterns or spirit patterns, nor talisman inscriptions. With Han Li's knowledge, he could not identify their origin at all.

However, these patterns contained subtle mysteries and were not random scribbles.

Han Li quickly shook his head, gave up pondering over the patterns, and turned to examine other parts of the gray cloth.

It felt smooth to the touch, slightly cool, and he couldn't tell what material it was made of.

He turned the gray cloth over and over, examining it for a long time, even using his Clear Spirit Eyes and Truthful Vision, but found nothing.

The gray cloth had no spiritual energy fluctuations; aside from those patterns, it revealed no other mysteries, as if it were just an ordinary piece of gray cloth.

But since Xiong Shan had treasured it so much, it surely was no ordinary item.

Han Li looked thoughtful, holding the gray cloth in his right hand, his fingers unconsciously rubbing it.

"Eh!" He suddenly raised an eyebrow and looked at the gray cloth in his hand.

With his current strength, even an unintentional rub could crush a steel plate, but the gray cloth remained unaffected.

That was somewhat strange!

Han Li's eyes flickered; he rubbed it with a bit more force, but the gray cloth still remained unaffected.

He raised an eyebrow and increased his strength again. The gray cloth only tightened but showed no change, easily withstanding his force.

A gleam of light flashed in Han Li's eyes. He grabbed the cloth with both hands and pulled hard.

The gray cloth tightened further but still showed no sign of tearing.

Han Li's heart stirred, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.

He had just used nearly half his strength; even an ordinary spirit treasure might not withstand such a pull. It seemed this gray cloth indeed held some mystery.