Chapter 1721: Obtaining the Pill
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li had already been teleported into a strange space. Everything around him was nothing more than a vast expanse of murky greyness, with the exception of a massive black gate that was situated nearby. There were countless golden and silver runes hovering all over the gate, and they were constantly fluctuating in brightness, creating quite a mysterious sight to behold.
This gate was identical to the one that was on the screen from earlier, and it was as if he had been swept up into the artwork on the screen.
"This really is a place that's similar to the Xumi Paradise." Han Li looked around at his surroundings before turning his gaze toward the giant gate, upon which a peculiar look appeared on his face.
All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over, and spiritual light flashed as a stack of formation plates of different colors appeared over his palm.
He then made a hand seal with his other hand, and all of the formation plates shot forth at his behest, flying away in all directions. The formation plates transformed into balls of light that plummeted downward, and as soon as they came into contact with the ground, they vanished without a trace.
Moments later, bursts of white mist began to surge out of the spots where the formation plates had vanished in a frenzy.
The mist was dense and lingered in the air for a long time, forming an extremely viscous wall of mist that encompassed both Han Li and the massive gate before him.
Only then did Han Li's expression ease slightly, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a ball of azure light, which contained an item. The item circled around through the air before hovering in front of him, and it was none other than his Heavenvoid Cauldron.
He pointed a finger gently at the cauldron, and its lid flew off on its own. Azure light flashed within the cauldron, and a faint white figure emerged.
This was a little girl in a white dress. She appeared to be around six or seven years old with her hair arranged into small braids, and her round little face was extremely adorable.
It was none other than Qu'er!
"Qu'er pays her respects to her master," she extended a salute toward Han Li with a cheeky smile on her face.
"Well done! Even I wasn't able to sense your aura from within the cauldron; there's no way that those two would've been able to detect your presence," Han Li praised with a pleased look on his face.
"It's all thanks to the treasure and talisman you gave me, Master. Otherwise, there's no way that my abilities alone would've been able to fool those two top-grade Spatial Tempering Stage beings," Qu'er giggled in response.
As soon as her voice trailed off, black light flashed, and a large black veil flew off her body. At the same time, she made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a High Zenith Invisibility Talisman was revealed.
Qu'er held the two items with both of her little hands as if she were returning them to Han Li.
"There's no need to return them to me. You're adept in concealment and movement techniques anyway, so those two treasures are better suited to serve you. Even if I were to use those two treasures, I may not be able to completely conceal myself from those two at just close quarters. Besides, I have other treasures that serve a similar purpose, so you can keep those," Han Li said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
"In that case, I'd be more than happy to oblige." Qu'er's smile widened even further as she patted the black veil and talisman against her own body, upon which they abruptly vanished.
Han Li smiled upon seeing this before adopting a more serious expression. "Back when I was securing the treasures within the golden cauldron, I intentionally made the spiritual light brighter to act as a smokescreen so I could send you into the Heavenvoid Cauldron without being noticed. However, not much time passed before the cauldron was opened again; did you have enough time to strike?"
"Heehee, I'm super quick! Look, Master!" A smug smile appeared on Qu'er face and she flipped over one of her little hands to reveal a shimmering golden pill.
"Well done!" Han Li had already guessed that Qu'er had most likely accomplished her mission, but he was still quite elated at the sight of this pill.
He waved a hand, and the golden pill drifted out of Qu'er's grasp before landing in his hand. He carefully appraised it several times before he was finally able to determine that this was indeed identical to the other two Spiritvoid Pills.
He didn't know what specific effect this pill had, but the fact that both Cai Liuying and Duan Tianren were so eager to get their hands on these pills was sufficient testament to how precious they were.
"You told me not to touch those other treasures and only pay attention to medicine vials, so I only had time to tip a single pill out of that vial. You also told me that I could take a pill if there had been more than one pill in the vial, and I followed those instructions. Otherwise, I would've taken the other two pills as well." Qu'er pouted her little red lips in a rather wistful display.
Han Li couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"You're being a little too greedy. It's already vastly fortunate that we were able to steal a Spiritvoid Pill right under those two's noses; if we had tried anything else, we would've aroused their suspicion. It's a good thing that there were still two pills remaining in the vial aside from this one. Otherwise, the situation would've become very troublesome. Perhaps we would've had no choice but to relinquish this pill; I don't want to be hunted by a pair of enraged Body Integration Stage beings here in this foreign land," Han Li explained with a smile, then swept a hand over his storage bracelet to summon the small purple vial from before.
He placed the pill into the vial, then adhered several restriction talismans onto it before carefully stowing it away.
"You must have your reasons, Master, but I still think it's quite a pity that we had to spare those two pills to them." Qu'er was still looking rather forlorn.
Han Li shook his head with an amused smile, but a thought then suddenly occurred to him, and swept a sleeve through the air to summon a series of flying daggers, each of which was only around an inch in length.
All of the daggers were as thin as paper and shimmering with a cold light, and there were around 300 to 400 of them in total.
"Master, what are you..." Qu'er was rather perplexed.
"These flying daggers were refined from the wings of that monstrous moth we encountered last time. There are 360 of them in total, and you seem to be missing a treasure that you can use to defend yourself, so I'll give these daggers to you. They can't compare with top-tier treasures like Divine Spirit Treasures, but if you can refine all of them, then they'll be more than enough to protect you against average opponents. This will be your reward for your brilliant efforts!" Han Li made a grabbing motion as he spoke, and all of the flying daggers in the air immediately flew toward him.
They compiled themselves into two thick stacks in the blink of an eye before landing in his hand, and Han Li smiled as he offered them to Qu'er.
"Thank you for your kindness, Master!" Qu'er was ecstatic, and her body swayed as she vanished on the spot. In the next instant, she appeared right in front of Han Li and accepted the flying daggers in an elated manner.
"Alright, as a safety precaution, you should return to your true body and refine these flying daggers. Don't appear unless I summon you so you don't get revealed to anyone else," Han Li instructed in a serious manner.
"Yes, Master, I'll be sure to cultivate in peace." Qu'er naturally accepted this arrangement, and she made a hand seal, upon which she and all of the flying daggers vanished up Han Li's sleeve as a ball of white light in a flash.
Han Li exhaled upon seeing this, and only then did he cast his gaze toward the giant gate in the distance with a contemplative look on his face.
Meanwhile, Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er were still situated in the main palace, appraising the screen before them with hesitant looks on their faces.
The azure light on the surface of the screen had already completely faded, thereby revealing the artwork on it.
However, a layer of cloud and mist had then appeared over the image, making it impossible to see the massive gate.
A dozen or so yellow formation flags had appeared around the screen, and all of them were flashing with faint yellow light. The screen sat right at the center of the circle of flags, and a rather profound formation had been established.
There were still faint spatial fluctuations lingering in the air above the formation, and two or three shimmering treasures were slowly revolving around Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er.
"What do you propose we do, Fairy Liu? We've already used several powerful treasures, yet have still been unable to break this restriction around the screen, so it's clearly not something that we can break through in a short time. Speaking of which, how did Fellow Daoist Han manage to enter the screen? He seemed to have done so quite easily," Shi Kun sighed.
Liu Shui'er was silent for a moment before asking, "Haven't you noticed, Brother Shi?"
"Noticed what?" Shi Kun was rather perplexed.
"Don't you think the third eye that appeared on Fellow Daoist Han's glabella really resembles a certain legendary object?" Liu Shui'er continued.
"You're saying that's a Law Destruction Eye?" Despite his rugged appearance, Shi Kun was far from unintelligent, and he instantly realized what Liu Shui'er was implying.
"Aside from this legendary demonic eye, I haven't heard of any other similar ability that can easily tear through this spatial restriction and grant access into this screen," Liu Shui'er said in a calm voice.
"If it really is the Law Destruction Eye, then we won't be able to replicate Fellow Daoist Han. Unless we completely destroy this entrance, there will be no chance for us to enter the screen," Shi Kun murmured with tightly furrowed brows.
"If we join forces and both of us are willing to expend some energy, there's indeed a chance that we could accomplish this. However, if we fail, then we'll essentially have destroyed the exit for Fellow Daoist Han. I'm sure he won't be very happy about that, and when he tears through space to return to this place, we'll have to face the full brunt of his wrath. After all, with his Law Destruction Eye, there's no way he'll actually be trapped in there," Liu Shui'er chuckled.
Shi Kun's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he cast his gaze toward the screen again as he chuckled drily in response. "Surely you jest, Fairy Liu; I wouldn't do something so reckless and risk harming others for my own benefit. Seeing as there's no way we'll be able to break this spatial restriction in a short time, why don't we leave this place and see if there are any rewards to be reaped in the other side palaces?"
"My thoughts exactly, Fellow Daoist Shi," Liu Shui'er replied with an approving smile.
Shi Kun chuckled upon seeing this before taking one final forlorn glance at the screen before suddenly sweeping a sleeve through the air.
A gust of yellow wind immediately surged out of his sleeve before sweeping up all of the weapons hanging on the wall, as well as the suits of armor lying on the ground, then drawing them back up his sleeve.