Chapter 1720: The World Within the Screen
As soon as the fiery bird appeared, it immediately let loose a clear cry up into the heavens. Han Li took a deep breath before extending a pristine white hand out of one of his sleeves, then curled back his five fingers before flicking them in succession.
Five bursts of glacial flames shot forth one after another before striking fiery golden bird in a flash, severely dimming the light that was emanating from it.
After all five bursts of glacial flames had struck the golden bird, it let loose an anguished cry, and the golden flames completely receded to reveal a golden pill.
The pill was only around the size of a human thumb, and there were complex pill patterns all over its surface. Its vibrant golden color coupled with those patterns presented quite a remarkable sight to behold.
"There's no mistaking it; this is definitely a Spiritvoid Pill!" Liu Shui'er exclaimed with an elated look on her face as soon as the pill emerged.
Shi Kun was also appraising the pill with excitement in his eyes, but a thought then suddenly occurred to him, and his expression changed slightly as he asked, "Brother Han, is there only one Spiritvoid Pill in the vial?"
Han Li offered no reply to this question. Instead, he merely pointed a finger at the small purple vial, and it shuddered before another fiery golden bird flew out from within it amid a dull thump.
"There are two pills! This is fantastic!" Shi Kun immediately burst into elated laughter upon seeing this.
"Seeing as both seniors have requested this pill and there just so happen to be two of them, you can take one each. Do either of you have any objections?" Han Li asked with a meaningful smile on his face.
Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun's expressions both changed slightly upon seeing this, and the two of them quickly exchanged a glance.
A serious look appeared on Shi Kun's face, and Liu Shui'er looked back at him with a cold expression.
Shi Kun hesitated momentarily before heaving a long sigh. "Alright, I'll settle for this arrangement. My master strictly ordered me to bring back all of the Spiritvoid Pills here to him, but seeing as Fair Liu is unwilling to back down, I have no choice but to compromise."
"I have no objections, either. At the very least, I won't be returning empty-handed to my master," Liu Shui'er chimed in as the cold look in her eyes eased slightly.
Seeing as both sides had agreed to this arrangement, albeit in a begrudging manner, Han Li nodded before pointing at the two pills in the air.
The two golden pills shot forth before arriving in front of Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun in a flash.
Liu Shui'er raised a hand to catch the pill that was flying toward her, while Shi Kun suddenly opened his mouth to expel a burst of yellow light, which instantly swept up the pill. Only then did he calmly extricate the pill from within the yellow light.
Even though both of them were convinced that these were Spiritvoid Pills, this was an extremely important matter, so they naturally still had to use their own secret techniques for verification.
Thus, one of them began to chant incantations and cast strings of incantation seals toward the spirit pill that they were holding. Meanwhile, the other merely stared intently at the pill in their hand.
After about 10 minutes, both of them looked up at once before exchanging a glance and a nod, upon which they heaved a collective sigh of relief.
"We must offer you our gratitude, Brother Han. Without your assistance, there would've been no way for us to reach this place so quickly and secure the Spiritvoid Pills," Liu Shui'er said with a smile as she stowed her pill away into a vial that she was carrying.
"I accepted benefits from our two seniors, so it's only right for me to repay them," Han Li replied in a nonchalant manner.
Shi Kun also stowed away his pill before casting his gaze toward the purple vial that was hovering in mid-air, and he suddenly asked, "You're far too modest, Brother Han. Forgive me for my rudeness, but I must ask if there are any other pills inside that vial."
Liu Shui'er's heart stirred upon hearing this, and a peculiar look flashed through her eyes.
"Hehe, I didn't think that Fellow Daoist Shi would be so greedy. You can take a look for yourself to see if there are any other pills in here," Han Li chuckled before casting an incantation seal, and the purple vial immediately flew toward Shi Kun as a streak of light.
Shi Kun could hear a hint of displeasure in Han Li's voice, but this was too important a matter for him to risk overlooking any details, so he pretended to be oblivious to Han Li's attitude as he caught the vial before sweeping his spiritual sense toward it.
However, the vial was completely empty, and there were no other pills within it.
A hint of disappointment flashed through Shi Kun's heart, but he disguised it with a smile as he turned to Liu Shui'er. "Would you like to have a look as well, Fairy Liu?"
He motioned to toss the vial toward her as he spoke. However, Liu Shui'er merely shook her head, and said, "Brother Han and Brother Shi have already inspected the vial, so there's no need for me to take another look; I trust the two of you."
Shi Kun naturally couldn't force the issue, so he could only offer Han Li a sheepish smile before tossing the vial back to him.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but he swept a sleeve through the air to accept the purple vial nonetheless.
After that, Han Li extricated two more items out of the cauldron, both of which were rare materials that were virtually extinct in the Spirit Realm, and they were also among the items requested by Cai Liuying and Duan Tianren.
Due to the fact that there was only one of each item, Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun took one each, and no disputes took place.
Thus, aside from the first three treasures to have emerged from the cauldron, all of the other items had been reserved for the two seniors.
There were no more items in the cauldron, and Shi Kun didn't express any doubts on this occasion. After all, there really were no further balls of golden light within the Heavenvoid Cauldron.
After Han Li stowed away his Heavenvoid Cauldron, Liu Shui'er smiled, and said, "Brother Han, the first three treasures from the cauldron are outside of the treasures requested by my master and Senior Duan, so let's split them among us."
"Haha, it's a good thing that there were three treasures; we'll be able to take one each. You can go ahead and take the first pick, Brother Han," Shi Kun offered.
Liu Shui'er faltered initially upon hearing this, but she then quickly agreed to this arrangement with a smile. After all, it made sense for Han Li to take the first pick.
On top of that, there was no way to ascertain the abilities of the three treasures through inspecting them visually or using one's spiritual sense, so it didn't really matter in which order they took their picks.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this, and the said, "Alright, in that case, I'd be more than happy to oblige. I've already chosen a treasure; you two can split the remaining two treasures."
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and two items immediately flew out before hovering in front of him. These were none other than the golden pagoda and the hexagonal formation plate, which meant that he had chosen the golden gourd.
Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun were both slightly surprised by Han Li's choice, but they didn't pay much heed to it. Instead, they both turned their attention toward the remaining two treasures with contemplative looks on their faces.
Liu Shui'er was the first to speak. "I would like the golden pagoda. If you have objections, you can have the formation plate; what do you think, Brother Shi?"
Shi Kun hesitated momentarily but still nodded in agreement in the end. "Alright, I'll take the formation place, then."
"Thank you for allowing me to choose ahead of you, Brother Shi." Liu Shui'er smiled before raising a hand, and the golden pagoda treasure in front of Han Li was drawn into her grasp.
Shi Kun naturally also drew the hexagonal formation plate to himself as well.
The three of them exchanged a glance with one another, and all of them were quite elated.
"Brother Han, Fairy Liu, you wouldn't object if I were to take this golden cauldron, would you?" Shi Kun suddenly strode toward the cauldron with a smile on his face.
He then laid a hand on it, and bright spiritual light abruptly radiated from it. Immediately thereafter, the cauldron shrank down to around the size of a human fist in the blink of an eye.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but his expression then instantly eased as he said, "I have no objections. If Fairy Liu is also willing to accept this arrangement, then you can go right ahead."
"This cauldron is a fantastic treasure for holding some important things and I also wanted it for myself, but seeing Brother Shi has already claimed it, I'm willing to pass up on it." There was a hint of disappointment in Liu Shui'er's eyes as she appraised the golden cauldron, but Shi Kun had already claimed it, so she had no choice but to comply. After all, this wasn't something worth instigating a potential conflict over.
Shi Kun chuckled as he stuffed the golden cauldron up his sleeve, then looked around to find that Han Li was currently carefully appraising that peculiar screen.
"Have you discovered something, Brother Han?" Shi Kun couldn't help but ask at the sight of Han Li's enraptured expression.
"This is no ordinary screen." Han Li gave a completely pointless reply.
Shi Kun was left feeling rather speechless upon hearing this.
The fact that this screen was able to devour their spiritual sense clearly indicated that this was no ordinary item, so such a response told him nothing that he didn't already know.
However, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to pry any further, so he could only also inspect the screen using secret techniques of his own.
Meanwhile, Liu Shui'er had also strode over to the screen and was appraising it with a contemplative look on her face.
Right at this moment, Han Li's body swayed, and he suddenly appeared behind the screen.
He raised both of his hands and flicked his 10 fingers in succession, upon which incantation seals of different colors were sent hurtling toward the screen.
Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er were naturally intrigued by what Han Li was doing and hurriedly cast their eyes toward him.
Right at this moment, Han Li let loose a low cry, and a ball of black Qi suddenly appeared on his glabella. An inky black third eye then emerged before blasting forth a pillar of black light that was around as thick as a human thumb onto the screen.
Immediately thereafter, a buzzing sound rang out from behind the screen, and a vast expanse of seven-colored light surged forth. The light swept up Han Li, and he abruptly vanished on the spot.
Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er's hearts jostled upon seeing this, and they immediately rushed around to the rear of the screen in unison.
There, they discovered that a string of ancient purple text had appeared on the screen.
"World within the screen"
Liu Shui'er's pupils contracted slightly as she read the words aloud.