Chapter 1777: Blood Soul
Xu Huo and the burly man were also ecstatic to see this.
Xu Jiao repressed his own excitement and replicated the same procedure to remove the talisman on the jade box as well.
After glancing hesitantly at the two items for a brief moment, he reached out and grabbed the blue jade slip, then gently pressed it against his forehead before closing his eyes.
Time slowly passed, and the white-robed man's initially calm expression gradually became tinged with a hint of confusion, then slowly transitioned toward astonishment.
Xu Huo and the elderly man glanced at one another upon seeing this, and they couldn't help but grow a little nervous.
Around 10 minutes later, Xu Jiao finally exhaled before removing the jade slip from his forehead in a rather forlorn manner.
"What does it say?" Xu Huo immediately asked.
An urgent look also appeared on the burly man's face.
Xu Jiao returned to his senses before tossing the jade slip over to Xu Huo, seemingly unwilling to say anything. "You should take a look for yourself, Granduncle Huo."
Xu Huo was naturally slightly bewildered as he caught the jade slip, but after a brief hesitation, he also injected his spiritual sense into it.
Meanwhile, Xu Jiao's gaze fell upon the jade box, and after a brief pause, he swept his sleeve over it, upon which the lid of the box flew off on its own.
A swath of black light was swirling within the jade box, and it contained a small red vial that was several inches tall.
There was a strange pattern on the surface of the vial, and it was releasing a faint odor of blood and gore.
Upon catching sight of the red vial, a hint of surprise appeared on the burly man's face, and he seemed to have been able to identify it. "Hmm? That seems to be our family's..."
"Indeed, this is the Blood Soul Vial that has been passed down in our Xu Family for generations. There was originally a pair of these treasures, but one of them was taken away by Fairy Ice Soul. I didn't think that the two treasures would have a chance to reunite someday," Xu Jiao said in a brooding manner.
"So it really is that treasure," the burly man murmured to himself.
Xu Jiao instructed, "Take my badge and mobilize all of the secret guards in our family right away. Surround the mountain that our ancestral shrine is situated on, and activate all of the nearby restrictions; make sure that not even a single fly is allowed to leave. After that, rouse our eldest granduncle from his seclusion and ask him to wait in the ancestral shrine for now."
"What? Mobilize the secret guards and rouse our eldest granduncle from seclusion?" The burly man was stunned to hear this.
The white-robed man gritted his teeth as if he were making a difficult decision, then confirmed in an implacable manner, "That's right. This is an extremely important matter that concerns our matriarch, so even if our eldest granduncle is at a critical juncture in his cultivation; he'll have to come out of seclusion to address this."
"Have you really found the whereabouts of our matriarch? I'll go right away!" The burly man was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately rushed out of the secret chamber.
Following his departure, Xu Jiao's gaze returned to the small red vial, and a contemplative look appeared on his face.
Not long after that, Xu Huo exhaled as he finally finished reading the contents of the jade slip before also opening his eyes.
"I see. So our matriarch really did venture into the primordial world, and she even went to a foreign continent. However, something seems to have happened to her, and only a wisp of the blood soul that she refined was sent back to us," Xu Huo murmured with furrowed brows.
"Aside from that blood soul secret technique enclosed in the jade slip, all of the other information is very vague. We'll have to use the blood crystal to reawaken the wisp of blood soul before we can figure out what happened. It's a good thing that Fairy Ice Soul refined that Blood Soul Coffin and the pair of Blood Soul Vials prior to her disappearance. Otherwise, we would be at a complete loss right now," Xu Jiao said in a grim manner.
"Indeed. However, the jade slip says that once the talismans are removed, the awakening ceremony must be held within a few days. Otherwise, even the wisp of blood soul in the Blood Soul Vial will dissipate. After all, this blood soul has been sealed in the vial for far too long." A concerned look appeared on Xu Huo's face.
"Rest assured, the ceremony will be arranged tonight," the white-robed man said.
"Looks like we'll have to do that. By the way, what are we going to tell that Senior Han? According to Yu'er, he seems to have some kind of connection with our matriarch, and delivered her blood soul back to us, so he most likely doesn't harbor any ill will toward our Xu Family," Xu Huo analyzed.
"Indeed. This Senior Han has only just reached the Body Integration Stage, but he seems to be quite powerful and is very knowledgeable in ancient formations; perhaps he can become a powerful backer for our Xu Family in the future. We have to convince him to stay for a few days no matter what. After we awaken the blood soul through the ceremony, we'll have to find a way to befriend him," Xu Jiao decided after a brief pause for contemplation.
"Alright, then I'll go and make some preparations." Xu Huo nodded before turning to depart on his own.
However, the white-robed man faltered momentarily before stopping him. "Wait, I'll come out with you as a show of our sincerity."
Xu Huo thought about this for a moment before nodding in agreement. "That would be good. We certainly can't be too careful in our treatment of a Body Integration Stage being."
Thus, Xu Jiao carefully packed up the jade box containing the small red vial before exiting the secret chamber with Xu Huo.
Around two hours later, Han Li found himself seated atop a futon on the top floor of an extremely lavish and intricate pavilion. His brows were slightly furrowed, and he was rather bemused by this situation.
He had originally intended to leave the Xu Family after delivering the two items, but Xu Jiao had been extremely hospitable and insisted on asking him to stay for some time. Seeing as he was still determined to leave, he had even implied to Han Li that the items contained potential leads pertaining to Fairy Ice Soul's whereabouts, and that her current location could be revealed if he were to stay for a few more days.
This made Han Li rather hesitant. It was naturally impossible to say that he didn't care about Fairy Ice Soul at all.
Regardless of whether it was the Celestial Blue flames he had absorbed, his risky venture into the Heavenvoid Palace, the Heavenvoid Cauldron he had obtained, or his run-in with the North Night Palace in the Great Jin, all of this had something to do with Fairy Ice Soul.
As such, there were a few questions surrounding Fairy Ice Soul in his heart that he also really wanted to have answered. Thus, he certainly wouldn't mind staying for half a month or so if it meant that those mysteries could be resolved.
After all, with his current powers, he didn't have to worry that the Xu Family would try to plot against him. Aside from the legendary Grand Ascension cultivators, no one in the human and demon races could pose a threat to him.
Seeing as Xu Jiao and the other Xu Family cultivators were so eager to keep him, he decided to comply in the end.
However, he had decided that he would stay at the Xu Family for a month at most. If no news of Fairy Ice Soul arose even after a month had passed, then he would still leave anyway.
Of course, even if he did receive news of Fairy Ice Soul's whereabouts, it was still yet to be decided what he was going to do and whether he was going to spend the time to find her. Everything would have to depend on the information that comes to light.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised a hand, and spiritual light flashed, upon which a silver talisman appeared over his palm.
This talisman was none other than one of the True Immortal Realm talismans he had obtained from the ruins in the Vast Glacial Realm.
He still didn't have the ingredients required to refine the Body Integration Stage pills he desired, so he wasn't in a hurry to cultivate. Instead, he had focused most of his attention on studying these talismans.
These talismans were completely spent and devoid of spiritual power, but they were all written in beveled silver text, so they would naturally correspond greatly with the pages of the Golden Jade Tome that he had obtained in the past.
As such, studying them had proved to be very enlightening to Han Li, and he was even beginning to comprehend the Heavenly Halberd Talisman, which he had never managed to make any progress on in the past.
This talisman was the final beveled silver text talisman on that incomplete page of the Golden Jade Tome, and it was also the only offensive talisman on that incomplete page.
Setting aside how powerful the talisman was, just its complexity was far more extreme than other beveled silver text talismans like the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.
Even though Han Li had progressed to the Body Integration Stage and had attained some insight regarding the laws of heaven and earth, he was still unable to completely comprehend this talisman, and that suggested that it was definitely something to look forward to.
Han Li stared intently at the silver talisman in his hand while constantly scribbling something in the air with the index finger of his other hand.
Most of the time, nothing resulted from this, but occasionally, a few silver runes of different sizes would emerge from his fingertip. These runes would either instantly explode, or linger in the air and shimmering erratically for a while before dissipating, creating quite a mystical sight to behold.
Time passed by slowly, and several pristine full moons soon appeared in the night sky over the mountain range that the Xu Family was situated on.
Han Li was still constantly scribbling with his finger when a peculiar look suddenly appeared on his face.
In the next instant, he rose to his feet before arriving in front of the window in a flash, then cast his gaze toward a certain mountain in the distance with a puzzled look in his eyes.
"What's going on? These restriction fluctuations are so strange. They're like..." All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have occurred to him, and he raised his head to look upward, only to be greeted by quite a startling sight.
The pristine white moons up above had turned into a crimson color, and presented a very unsettling sight to behold.
Han Li exhaled as he withdrew his gaze, then turned his attention toward the same mountain, scrutinizing it through narrowed eyes.
Blue light flashed incessantly within his pupils, and under the effect of his spirit eye ability, he was able to identify that a layer of crimson light had appeared over the seemingly ordinary mountain.
This crimson light surrounded the mountain and expanded and contracted in an erratic manner. The fluctuations that had alerted him were coming directly from that mountain.
He could clearly see that a certain type of profound restriction had already been set up around the mountain. However, that crimson light was truly quite abnormal, and there was some spiritual pressure that could puncture directly through the restriction.
Only after a long while did the blue light vanish from within his eyes, and a contemplative look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "Could it be that the Xu Family is holding some kind of blood sacrificial ceremony? But why would they choose to do this when an outsider is present? Could this have something to do with the items I passed on to them today?"
As intelligent as he was, he was able to roughly guess the truth after some quick deliberation.