Chapter 473: Taking Stock

Han Li frowned slightly upon hearing Gold Boy's words, then relaxed his brow.

Although the Crab Immortal, Gold Boy, and others who had lost contact with him had gradually returned, their memories of what had happened were still hazy. As events unfolded, he increasingly felt that things were not simple and that he might have been drawn into some conspiracy.

Moreover, he had openly and covertly offended some people—those he could not afford to provoke before—and most of them were now in this Minghan Immortal Mansion. Fortunately, by a twist of fate, he had obtained a significant opportunity, allowing his cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds and become a Golden Immortal.

Thus, he now had the means to protect himself here. As for those memories, he would make plans after leaving.

"Han Li, let's go! Let's find those Golden Immortals you mentioned! Just now, to help you deal with that old hag, I dropped a minor realm!" Gold Boy tugged at Han Li's sleeve, acting spoiled.

"Let's go. This place is not safe to stay. By the way, Gold Boy, if you can't win in the future, just run. Don't forcefully use secret techniques." Han Li nodded and instructed with a grave expression.

"Hmph, I did it all to save you!" Gold Boy muttered discontentedly.

Han Li smiled faintly. As green light gathered around him and he was about to move, his gaze swept the surroundings, and his brow furrowed.

Because of the recent fierce battle, everything nearby except the golden palace had been leveled to the ground, leaving it empty and open, with the end visible at a glance.

Not a single figure could be seen in the vicinity. Lu Yuqing, who had been here just moments ago, had vanished without a trace.

Although his fight with Qu Ling had been intense, it was still possible to move silently under the cover of two spiritual domains.

"Gold Boy, when I was fighting Qu Ling, did you notice the woman who came with me? Where did she go?" Han Li asked, looking at Gold Boy.

"Woman? Oh, that person who came with you. She was watching from afar at first, then used a secret technique to dive underground and disappeared," Gold Boy said, startled, then nonchalantly.

"Ran away?" Han Li frowned upon hearing this.

"Yeah, since she was with you, I didn't stop her. Otherwise, with a wave of my fairy hand, she would have stayed," Gold Boy said, blinking her big eyes at Han Li with a smile.

Han Li seemed not to hear Gold Boy's words, standing there silently with a contemplative expression, lost in thought.

Seeing Han Li lost in thought again, Gold Boy pouted and turned her little head away.

But soon, she secretly turned her head and glanced at Han Li out of the corner of her eye.

At that moment, Han Li's figure flickered as he soared into the air. Suddenly, a blue light flashed in his eyes, revealing two dazzling beams that swept across the surroundings.

After a moment, the blue light in Han Li's eyes dissipated, but his brow furrowed even tighter.

He had just searched the vicinity but found no trace of other cultivators. However, there was also no residual aura left by Lu Yuqing after her departure.

"Are we going or not? I'm a bit hungry!" Gold Boy flew over, hands on her hips.

"That woman has a fragmentary map of this place. The reason I came here was by following her map," Han Li said.

What he didn't say was that he vaguely felt Lu Yuqing was strange, especially after leaving the Youhan Palace. Her behavior and demeanor had become increasingly odd, and now her sudden disappearance without leaving any clues was even more abnormal.

"If we don't have it, we'll find our own way," Gold Boy said with a dismissive pout.

"Alright. Let's go." Han Li nodded, his figure transforming into a streak of green light that shot into the distance. Gold Boy's body flashed with golden light, turning into a golden beam that followed.

After flying for about half an hour, the area ahead was still a scene of ruins. They landed near a half-collapsed palace.

"Let's rest here for a while." Han Li sat down in a relatively intact side hall. With a wave of his hand, dozens of blue beams shot out, landing in various parts of the hall and forming a blue formation.

Gold Boy sat down beside Han Li.

Han Li let out a light breath, closed his eyes, and began to circulate his cultivation technique to refine the pills he had taken earlier. A soft layer of green light appeared on his body, concealing his form.

Gold Boy glanced at Han Li with her big eyes, then closed her eyes as well. A layer of golden light emerged around her, and she also began to cultivate.

After most of a day passed, the green light on Han Li dissipated, revealing his figure. His complexion was normal, indicating that his immortal spiritual power had fully recovered.

Beside him, Gold Boy was still enveloped in a layer of golden light. Surrounding immortal spiritual energy gathered and was continuously absorbed into her small mouth.

Han Li glanced at Gold Boy, then quickly withdrew his gaze. With a wave of his hand, light flashed, and two items appeared before him: the gray throne and the green alms bowl containing Qu Ling's corpse.

Han Li looked at the gray throne and waved his hand, sending a beam of green light into it.

The gray throne immediately emitted a layer of gray light, but it was not very bright.

He changed hand seals, and the gray light emitted by the throne gradually brightened. Three mirror images slowly emerged, each emitting gray, black, and white light.

Han Li's eyes lit up. This gray throne was of high quality, surpassing many of the immortal artifacts he possessed.

What was even rarer was that this throne contained three distinctly different laws. He had never seen such an immortal artifact before.

The power of the gray throne had just been demonstrated, and it was extremely formidable.

Unfortunately, this treasure was Qu Ling's lifebound immortal artifact, containing a very heavy lifebound imprint that could not be removed. Even if forcibly refined, one could only exert at most fifty to sixty percent of its power.

Han Li sighed softly, waved his hand to put away the gray throne, and looked at the green alms bowl.

He grasped at the air.

Several beams of light flew out from the bowl and landed before him: four small pouches of different colors, a white jade belt inlaid with hundreds of multicolored gems, and a pitch-black ring.

These items had all been on Qu Ling earlier but had not been collected in time.

Han Li first took the four small pouches, gave them a brief inspection, and a glimmer of light appeared in his eyes.

These pouches were not storage pouches but spirit beast pouches, each extremely extraordinary, with vast internal spaces like small secret realms.

The spiritual energy in each space was extremely dense, and the climates and environments varied.

He believed that refining such a spirit beast pouch would cost no less than forging a high-grade acquired immortal artifact.

At present, all four pouches were empty, likely used to house Golden Immortal-level spirit beasts, but those beasts had already been killed.

A flash of joy crossed Han Li's eyes, and he waved his hand to put away the four pouches.

Although he had no use for these spirit beast pouches now, they were priceless treasures; even if he sold them to cultivators or sects that raised spirit beasts, he could exchange them for many immortal spirit stones.

He then picked up the white jade belt and, after a brief examination, his eyes lit up again.

This white jade belt was also a container for spirit beasts; each gem was a space, and inside were various spirit beasts.

Some spaces held only a single spirit beast, while others held thousands or even tens of thousands, truly a diverse array.

However, these spirit beasts were not very powerful; even True Immortal-level ones seemed rare, most being below the Mahayana stage.

Additionally, each space contained a stone tablet recording the characteristics and uses of the reared spirit beasts, not all for combat—some for exploration, tracking, and so on.

Having traveled extensively over the years and gained broad knowledge, Han Li found the introductions to these spirit beasts eye-opening.

But at this moment, all the spirit beasts in the jade belt spaces had died, not a single one alive.

While Han Li was surprised, he also lamented the loss.

These spirit beasts bore no wounds, so their deaths did not seem caused by the recent battle's aftermath—a rather strange circumstance.

After a moment's thought, he waved his hand.

A corpse of a green elk appeared, blood flowing from its seven orifices, dead.

Han Li extended a finger and touched the elk's head; a green light sank into it.

After a moment, his expression turned somewhat grim. He waved his hand again to retrieve a white ice silkworm corpse, touched its head with his finger, and a green light at his fingertip sank into it.

Han Li quickly withdrew his finger, a trace of anger flashing in his eyes.

He had determined the cause of death for these spirit beasts: they had died from a restrictive force.

Qu Ling had placed a symbiotic restriction within all these spirit beasts, a most vicious technique; when the master died, the spirit beasts would also die—one of the most domineering of all contract restrictions.

Han Li shook his head, turned his hand, and put away the white jade belt.

This belt was of great value, likely surpassing even those high-level spirit beast pouches.

Finally, he picked up the black ring, pressed it to his forehead, and immersed his divine sense into it, a look of shock appearing in his eyes.

Han Li waved his hand, and with a clatter, a large pile of items appeared on the ground, covering nearly half the hall.

These items were a chaotic assortment—spirit herbs, ores, materials, and magical artifacts—everything imaginable, emitting various lights that illuminated the hall brightly.

Almost every item contained extremely strong spiritual power and was of considerable value.

Han Li had found many treasures since entering the immortal mansion, but compared to these items from Qu Ling, they fell far short.

However, many of the items on the ground clearly belonged to other cultivators, indicating that this woman had engaged in much murder and robbery.

Han Li's expression suddenly shifted; he turned his hand and grabbed a crimson token engraved with a red vermilion bird pattern, the mark of the True Flame Sect.

He swept his gaze over it; there were six or seven such tokens here.

It seemed that the True Flame Sect members had encountered Qu Ling and been killed by her.

Han Li shook his head and sighed softly. He had no particular fondness for the True Flame Sect members, but seeing that his companions had met with misfortune, he still felt some regret.

Han Li waved his hand to toss aside the items of the True Flame Sect members and continued inspecting the things on the ground.

Before long, his eyes lit up; he waved his hand to emit a green light that coiled around a nearby emerald green gourd, drawing it into his hand.

This was the Profound Heaven Gourd that Qu Ling had used earlier.