Chapter 77: Two Strange Treasures

The green-robed man ignored the three in black robes, calmly walked to the side of the five-clawed dragon's massive head, raised a hand, and grasped at the air with five fingers.

With a 'bang'!

A spot on the head burst open, and a fist-sized black crystal core flew out, its surface covered with mysterious black patterns—the demon core of the five-clawed ink dragon.

The young man glanced at it expressionlessly, then put it away, and with a blur, his five fingers merged into a hand blade.

With several crisp 'crack' sounds, the dragon's four giant claws were severed.

After putting away the giant claws, the young man turned his gaze to the dragon's neck.

There, a pale silver scale nearly a zhang in size stood out from the surrounding black scales, with several pale silver bone spikes nearby, emitting astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.

The scale and bone spikes faintly bore patterns similar to those on the demon core.

The young man carefully removed the silver scale and bone spikes, took a few more demonic beast materials from the dragon's body, then stood up and glanced at the three in black robes nearby.

Though there was no malice in his eyes, the hearts of the three old men skipped a beat; cold sweat poured down like rain, and they became at a loss.

The green-robed man ignored them, quickly withdrew his gaze, transformed into a green rainbow, and shot off into the distance.

Only after the figure completely disappeared in the distance did the three finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“This... this dragon, could it be the five-clawed ink dragon we were just talking about?” said the middle-aged Daoist, looking at the black dragon's remains.

“It should be, and judging by the situation, it’s very likely that this dragon has advanced to the Great Vehicle stage!” The black-robed elder, his mood just calming down a bit, nodded.

The green-robed young woman and the middle-aged Daoist gasped upon hearing this.

“That senior was able to slay this dragon with his bare hands, and it seemed he didn’t exert much effort. Could he also be a Great Vehicle stage grand cultivator? I’ve seen images of Senior Sima from the Cold Flame Sect and Senior He Shan from the Jingyuan Temple, and he is neither of them,” said the green-robed young woman, still somewhat shaken, with a puzzled expression.

“Could he have changed his appearance?” the middle-aged Daoist suggested a possibility.

“Probably not. Judging from the wounds on the ink dragon, that senior should be a pure strength cultivator, and most likely not one of those two seniors,” the black-robed elder shook his head.

“If not them, are there other Great Vehicle stage cultivators in this Spirit Huan Realm?” the green-robed young woman asked in surprise.

“There is one more... Have you forgotten Senior Han Li, who annihilated the Heavenly Ghost Sect overnight a few years ago? He is exactly a strength cultivator!” The black-robed elder unconsciously lowered his voice as he spoke.

“That legendary Senior Han... That’s right, rumors say he looks very young. Could it really be him?” The green-robed young woman’s eyes brightened slightly.

“Rumor has it that Senior Han is an immortal banished from the Immortal Realm, a true immortal!” The middle-aged Daoist also spoke with some excitement.

As the three spoke, their gazes soon fell on the five-clawed ink dragon’s corpse, their eyes burning with fervor.

Although Han Li looked down on the dragon’s remains and discarded them, to three Nascent Soul stage cultivators, even a small piece of dragon flesh would be enough to cause quite a stir if taken back.

After all, this was the flesh and blood of a Great Vehicle stage demonic beast!

…

The Heavenly Crystal Sect had been founded for two to three hundred thousand years. Although its foundation was not as strong as super sects like the Cold Flame Sect or the Jingyuan Temple, it had several Combined Essence stage cultivators in charge, so its strength should not be underestimated.

However, this sect had always acted low-key and was not very famous in the Spirit Huan Realm.

At that moment, inside the Heavenly Crystal Sect, in a huge martial arts arena.

A dazzling golden light flashed, accompanied by a thunderous roar!

A silver-robed elder flew backward like a broken kite, crashing into the restrictions spread around the arena. With a 'wa', he spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the front of his robe.

A pale golden alms bowl spun back, its surface dim, seemingly heavily damaged.

Opposite the elder, a green-robed cultivator stood in the void, his face shrouded in a layer of green light, his features unclear, slowly withdrawing his extended right hand.

Outside the arena, three Combined Essence stage cultivators were watching. Seeing this, they were all horrified. They quickly canceled the restrictions around the arena and flew to land in front of the silver-robed elder, staring warily at the green-robed cultivator in the distance.

“Great Elder, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. This fellow Daoist has already shown mercy,” the silver-robed elder said, taking out a yellow pill and swallowing it. His complexion gradually improved.

Hearing this, the three around him were stunned.

“Fellow Daoist, your strength is extraordinary. I couldn’t even withstand a single move from you. I am ashamed,” the silver-robed elder cupped his hands to the green-robed cultivator in the air and smiled bitterly.

“Since you admit defeat, hand over that piece of Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade as agreed,” the green-robed cultivator said flatly, his voice sounding young.

The silver-robed elder had no choice but to say something to a Combined Essence stage burly man beside him.

Though the burly man was reluctant, he still stamped his foot and shot out.

After a moment, he flew back, holding a white jade box several feet long and half a foot wide, and handed it to the silver-robed elder.

The elder gently stroked the jade box, a trace of reluctance in his eyes, but still waved his hand to send a golden light wrapping the jade box to the green-robed cultivator.

The green-robed cultivator reached out to take the jade box, and with a flicker of green light on his finger, he tapped the box.

With a slight 'crack', the white jade box slowly opened by itself, revealing several pieces of white jade of varying sizes. Though they seemed ordinary, their surfaces faintly shimmered with eight-colored spiritual light, quite peculiar.

The green-robed cultivator nodded, closed the lid, and put it away with a flip of his hand.

“Our sect’s several Exquisite Jade veins have accumulated only these top-grade Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade over ten thousand years. I hope you will make good use of them,” the silver-robed elder sighed.

“Rest assured, I will not let this Exquisite Jade go to waste,” the green-robed cultivator chuckled, then flicked his finger.

A white light shot out and landed in front of the silver-robed elder—it was a storage bracelet.

“I won’t take your sect’s things for nothing. What’s inside should be enough to compensate for this Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade,” the green-robed cultivator said lightly, then his form blurred into a green rainbow and vanished into the sky.

The silver-robed elder probed the storage bracelet with his divine sense and was startled.

Inside were a vast amount of spirit stones, along with a batch of ten-thousand-year spiritual herbs and some extremely precious demonic beast materials.

In terms of value, they were indeed not inferior to those Eight Treasures Exquisite Jade, and even exceeded them somewhat.

…

Within a few short months, strange events occurred one after another across the Spirit Huan Realm.

Several sects had their rare materials, secret techniques, or sect scriptures taken by a mysterious person.

No one knew where this person came from, and his cultivation was extremely high. However, he acted reasonably, and the sects that lost their treasures received generous compensation, so he did not incur the public wrath of the major sects in the Spirit Huan Realm. Instead, many uninvolved rogue cultivators and sect disciples talked about him with relish.

This person appeared abruptly, was active for a few months, then suddenly vanished without a trace.

In the blink of an eye, another half year passed.

In the southeastern region of the Spirit Huan Realm, there was a massive crimson mountain range called the Fire Cloud Mountain Range, stretching for hundreds of thousands of miles.

The range was filled with countless huge volcanoes, constantly spewing scorching magma from deep underground. The air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur and was unbearably hot.

Almost all the mountain bodies were blackish-red, like burned stones. Even the clouds in the sky were perpetually crimson, hence the name Fire Cloud Mountain Range.

This was the largest fire spiritual land in the Spirit Huan Realm and one of the few famous dangerous places. Even highly skilled cultivators rarely dared to venture deep.

Deep within the Fire Cloud Mountain Range lay a massive abyss, at the bottom of which was a river of magma, rolling and flowing with a rumbling roar.

The surface of the magma flickered with red light, as if countless flames were burning.

The temperature here was so high that the surrounding air became blurry, distorting into faint ripples.

On a cliff wall less than a hundred zhang from the magma river, someone had dug out a huge cave, from which various colored lights flashed and sharp whistling sounds occasionally emerged.

One day, a long roar like a dragon's cry came from the cave, and then a thick white pillar of light rose from the cave, shooting straight into the sky.

Within the pillar of light, two dragons and a giant bone armor phantom could be faintly seen, slowly dissipating after a long time.

Inside the cave, a green-robed man sat cross-legged.

It was Han Li, his face full of joy.

Before him floated two treasures shimmering with spiritual light. One was a bone-white armor, ancient in design, engraved with eight patterns that seemed to depict shields, precious umbrellas, dharma wheels, and the like.

The other was a pair of silver ferocious gauntlets, covered with silvery-white bone spikes, looking like two dragon heads.

Both treasures emitted astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.

Han Li slowly swept his gaze over the two treasures, a trace of satisfaction flashing across his face.

The bone-white armor was called the Eight Treasures Exquisite Bone Armor, and the gauntlets were called the Heaven-Breaking Fist Armor.

The refining methods for both treasures were found in the scriptures of the Heavenly Ghost Sect. They were not ordinary treasures; in a sense, they were tailor-made for strength cultivators, requiring immense physical power to unleash their full might.

Since Sima Jingming had said that using this stowaway ascension method was very dangerous, Han Li had gone to great lengths to collect countless rare treasures and refine these two treasures for safety.

Han Li opened his mouth and spat out a stream of green light, putting away the bone armor and gauntlets. Then, with a flip of his hand, he took out a green jade slip, which contained a detailed map of the Spirit Huan Realm.

On the jade slip map, several places were specially marked.

These were the locations of weak spatial nodes he had found in the scriptures of various sects, though he had not yet personally verified them.

After a moment's deliberation, Han Li's gaze fell on a marked point in the southeastern region of the map, his eyes flickering slightly.

A moment later, a green rainbow shot out from the canyon and flew off into the distance.