Chapter 1093: The Profound Jade Cave
As Arctic Dragon stared at the crack in the altar, he wore a grave expression, “Within lies the greatest hidden chamber of the Spirit Void Hall, the Profound Jade Cave. Although it isn’t very large, the cave’s Profound Jade was something that has existed since ancient times. The ancient cultivators used enormous amounts of magic power to shape a vein of Profound Jade into that cave. Although Profound Jade and Profound Ice sound similar, there are clear differences as you all should well know. And if you leave this hall, you’ll find hardly any Myriad Year Profound Jade even if you searched the entire hall.”
The azure-robed middle-aged man, Elder Ouyang, and Bai Mengxin glanced with a trace of interest.
The grey-robed monk stared at the cracks in the altar and excitedly said, “Of course! Had you not mentioned the Profound Jade Cave Before, we could’ve hardly believed that your sect was concealing something so valuable. Myriad Year Profound Jade is rarely ever found in this. A fist-sized chunk is it is all that is needed for a magic treasure to possess ice-attributed abilities, allowing it to use astonishing glacial Qi to form attacks. It is beyond comparison to profound ice.”
The old woman glanced at the altar with a bright gaze.
As for Han Li, he silently smiled, stroking the smooth surface of a small golden sword he kept hidden in his sleeve.
Arctic Dragon then changed his focus to Han Li and the other two external cultivators and said, “I’ve already spoken about this before with Junior Martial Brother Ouyang and Junior Martial Sister Bai, but you will be rewarded with a piece of Myriad Year Profound Jade as a token of your gratitude, regardless of whether or not we succeed.”
“Truly?” Even the bold and detached woman was unable to conceal her joy upon hearing him.
Arctic Dragon nodded, “It is something within my authority as the Grand Elder of the North Night PAlace.”
Joy appeared on the face of the monk as well.
Myriad Year Profound Jade was an extremely rare material that was found at no market and had no price. If one could find it, they would ordinarily infuse it with their magic power, immediately increasing its power by an entire fifth.
Even Han Li couldn't help but be moved by his generosity.
With such a heavy reward, the three would find it shameful if they didn’t do their utmost when the time came.
“Enough with that, let’s enter the Profound Jade Cave!” Arctic Dragon continued, “The glacial Qi within is extremely potent. Have your flames ready when you enter or you will be hard-pressed to defend yourselves. Fortunately, the cave has an area that can block the corrosion of the Profound Jade’s glacial Qi. We’ll be using that place to restore our magic power, else we won’t be able to stay inside for long.”
Soon after, the dwarf opened his mouth and spat out a bright blue fireball. It turned into a large firebird above his head, only to circle him once before diving at the dwarf’s body.
A bird’s cry sounded before the image of the large bird disappear. A layer of blue flames then erupted and enveloped him.
With his hands grasped in an incantation gesture, he began to float down into the crack.
Bai Mengxin and the others released their own glacial flames and flew into the crack as well.
Han Li glanced at the two golden gates the side, and to the cauldron floating above the crack. After some hesitation, something came to mind and he silently smiled, wrapping himself in a layer of Purple Apex Flames and following them below.
As soon as he entered, white glacial light brushed past him, producing an odd crackle as it brushed past the purple flames protecting him. They seemed to be at odds with one another, causing the flames to flicker.
Han Li trembled. Without any further thought, he clapped his hands together, summoning even more flames to protect him and solidify his defenses.
Now, he had the leisure to examine his surroundings.
The Profound Jade Cave was an underground cavern.
As the cave was created from a vein of Myriad Year Profound Jade, countless pieces of variously sized grains laid in the wall all around them. The extremely rare material was several times more potent than profound ice, well displayed by the glacial light that dropped down from it, condensing into a mist at the bottom. When Han Li dropped down, the light struck at his purple likes like the patter of dense rain.
In his alarm, he faintly felt that something was amiss. Seeing that the rest of the party wasn’t paying attention to him, he reached out to the glacial light out of instant and forcibly used his magic power to grasp a sliver of it into his hand and concentrating his purple flames around it.
Any ordinary glacial Qi wouldn’t have shown any peculiarities, but when Han Li looked at it with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he frowned, soon to betray astonishment on his face.
Under the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, Han Li was able to see traces of its true form. As the purple flames continuously warped around the glacial light, their mutually powerful cold seemed to oppose one another.
“What is this? This glacial Qi seems almost intelligent...” Han Li muttered with amazement.
The glacial Qi was attacking only of its own accord. If anyone were to control a large amount and concentrate it into an attack, he feared even his Purple Apex Flames wouldn’t be able to block it.
As the thoughts quickly churned in his head, he was suddenly reminded of something and quickly formed an incantation gesture, summoning a scarlet wisp from the purple flames in his hand.
When this flame wisp made contact with the white glacial light, it was instantly absorbed.
An odd expression appeared on his face while delight surged through his mind.
The Great Yin Trueflame was known to Silvermoon as one of the three true spirit flames. It was well deserving of its name. Despite being only a single wisp, its power far exceeded that of the Purple Apex Flames.
When he initially refined the wisp of Great Yin Trueflame, he was only able to temporarily merge it with a bit of his Purple Apex Flames. If he truly wished to fully convert the Purple Apex Flames into the Great Yin Trueflame, it would take far beyond the time of a dozen years. Were this not the case, he would’ve already done so.
After all, the Great Yin Trueflame already possessed a trace of intelligence. It was a higher existence compared to other kinds of glacial flames.
When Han Li saw that the thread of trueflame was able to restrain the cave’s glacial light, Han Li also felt a bit of relief.
Just as these thoughts appeared in his mind, he suddenly held his hands behind his back and flicked his finger, vanishing the scarlet flame from sight.
In the instant, Han Li was performing his experiment, Elder Ouyang seemed to sense something and looked upward at Han Li with a trace of surprise.
Han Li’s heart sank, but his expression remained calm. He nonchalantly asked, “Fellow Daoist, is there anything wrong?”
The Elder Ouyang examined Han Li and the cave walls to either side of him, discovering nothing out of the ordinary. He knew well that Han Li’s abilities were exceptional and thus gave a prompt and polite answer, “Its nothing. I was just wondering why you weren’t following us. The large restrictions to spiritual sense inside Spirit Void Hall make me rather uncomfortable.”
Han Li looked down to see the glacial light brushing past his flames and replied, “Hehe, The glacial Qi in this cave is rather odd!”
“Yes, the glacial Qi is by no means ordinary. The cave is something that has existed since ancient times. After existing for such a long time, the glacial Qi may have undergone a subtle change.” Elder Ouyang’s black flames were also under attack by the glacial Qi and heard the same sounds of rain as Han Li.
Han Li smiled and through to say something when he suddenly let out a yelp.
Elder Ouyang suddenly looked below and saw that the rest of the party already entered the depths of the cave. There was a hill of scattered rocks that spanned a kilometer wide. The glacial light lingering there was several times more concentrated than at the top.
At the edge of the hill was a fire-red stone room with several entrances opened around it, appearing to almost be a cave formation.
At the peak of the stone hill, there was a giant boulder with condensed glacial Qi surrounding it. It was ten meters wide and its surface roiled with icy gusts and sparkling light.
As he closely examined it, he discovered that the huge boulder’s surface had a thumb-sized piece of Profound Jade. It sparkled with light, clearly displaying that it was many times purer than the shards he found at the cave’s entrance.
Suppressing his astonishment, Han Li followed the others and landed on the ground. Arctic Dragon’s gaze was captured by the boulder as soon as he saw it and joy appeared on his face.
“Haha, that’s great! I originally worried about how I would gather the glacial Qi in the cave. I didn’t expect that there would be a natural point where it concentrated. This will save us much effort!”
Arctic Dragon bellowed and soon after, he raised his hand, producing a blue ice spike in his hand, striking the ball of white light.
Clang! A metallic ring sounded upon impact, followed by the ice spike shattering to dust.
“Not bad, not bad!” Arctic Dragon only seemed to grow happier.
“Ah yes, did you all see that stone room over there? It is formed from Puresun Essence Stone. It is the only area that is absent of glacial Qi. We can rest there first as I explain what actions are forbidden in the cave. Otherwise, you will attract deep trouble for yourself!”
When the old woman heard him, she tapped her cane on the ground and asked, “Deep trouble? What does Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon mean?”