A layer of Purple Extreme Fire surfaced around Han Li's body, and he remained motionless as the cold wind blew past him.
To his surprise, the moment the white wind touched the purple flames, it eerily merged into them and dissipated into nothingness.
At the same time, Han Li glanced sideways and saw that the entire hall had transformed into a glacial landscape, but the other cultivators who possessed cold flames were all unharmed as well.
Apart from the white ice flames released by Bai Mengxin, Hanli Shangren had a small cauldron floating before him, from which a stream of Azure Ice Flame surged forth to shield him within; the blue-robed middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back, protected by a barrier formed from black ice flames; the old woman now held a yellow walking stick in one hand that she hadn't had moments before, and sheets of yellow flame sprayed from one end, behind which she sheltered herself. The grey-robed monk pressed his palms together, and a pale green ice flame erupted from his hands, transforming into a green flood dragon that coiled around his body, its shimmering green flames blocking out the cold wind.
As for Bai Yaoyi and the other cultivators of slightly higher cultivation, although they likewise possessed the divine abilities to resist the cold wind, the light barriers and magical treasures around them flickered unsteadily in the gale, clearly straining under the effort.
In the blink of an eye, the roar from within the stone door cut off abruptly, and the cold wind gradually subsided, dissipating into nothing.
The entire hall fell into absolute silence.
Han Li's eyes flickered. With one hand forming a seal, the purple flames around him wavered several times before being drawn back into his body. He then gazed toward the space beyond the stone door.
Beyond the door lay a crystalline expanse of white, with countless towering ice pillars packed densely together, resembling an intricate labyrinth.
Han Li's mind stirred, and he immediately sent his spiritual sense probing inward. But barely had it passed through the stone door when his spiritual sense became sluggish and unresponsive — sure enough, a special soul-restricting barrier had been laid within.
The old woman and the others naturally noticed the situation beyond the stone door as well, each wearing a different expression.
"Fellow Daoists, be careful. This is my first time entering the Void Spirit Hall as well. Although I can control most of the restrictions inside, there are some that I am not familiar with. Please stay close to me and do not stray — triggering the wrong restriction would be disastrous." Hanli Shangren let out a long breath and turned to face Han Li and the others, speaking gravely.
"Naturally. Why would we go wandering about your sect's forbidden grounds?" The old woman caught the worry in Hanli Shangren's words and replied calmly.
Han Li and the grey-robed monk both expressed their agreement.
Hanli Shangren nodded with satisfaction at this, then turned to Bai Yaoyi and the other Extreme Jade Palace elders to issue his instructions:
"Breaking through this bottleneck will take three to five days at the quickest, or over a month at the slowest. If those creatures attack the palace during that time, handle them according to our original plan. Should unforeseen circumstances arise and I have not emerged after two months, proceed with the contingency plan as well."
"Yes, Grand Elder!" the assembled cultivators responded in unison, their faces solemn.
"Let's go!" Hanli Shangren turned back around, shook his sleeve, and a fist-sized pristine white formation disk appeared in his hand. Holding the treasure aloft, he took the lead toward the stone door.
The four of them — Han Li included — naturally followed close behind.
The moment they passed through the stone door, Hanli Shangren formed a seal with one hand and struck the formation disk with a spell. The open doors immediately rumbled shut behind them, and runes of various colors reappeared on their surface, glowing with spiritual light.
The old woman and the grey-robed monk exchanged a glance, a hint of something unreadable flashing in their eyes.
"Rest assured, fellow Daoists. Although opening the Void Spirit Hall from the outside requires considerable effort, opening it from within is quite simple. I've temporarily sealed it to prevent anyone from entering and disturbing us," Hanli Shangren explained.
The old woman and the other had nothing further to say after hearing this. Han Li's expression remained placid, as though he couldn't care less.
After walking a dozen zhang, the group arrived before the ice pillars, their surfaces flickering with blinding white crystalline light that dazzled the eyes.
"These ten-thousand-year-old mystic ice pillars number exactly one thousand and eight, all painstakingly refined by ancient cultivators. This is the famed 'Frost Soul Glacial Array' of antiquity. Without the proper corresponding artifact, anyone who enters this array would be permanently frozen by its mystic cold energy in the blink of an eye. The cold wind we felt outside was merely residual glacial energy that the array generated on its own after being sealed for over a millennium. Even if all five of us possess extreme cold flames, whether we could survive within this array is far from certain." Hanli Shangren reminded them calmly.
Hearing this, the old woman and the monk glanced at the mystic ice pillars before them, their expressions betraying a mixture of belief and doubt.
"Heh heh, rest assured, Daoist Hanli. We have no desire to actually experience this array's power," Han Li chuckled lightly.
Hanli Shangren laughed heartily at this and waved the formation disk toward the seemingly endless expanse of ice pillars ahead.
Instantly, a milky-white radiance burst from the formation disk. Wherever it passed, the white light of the ice pillars wavered, and they flickered away like phantoms one after another, clearing a passage several zhang wide.
With the white radiance still streaming from the formation disk, Hanli Shangren gripped it in one hand and strode inside.
The rest of the group hurried to keep up, not daring to fall behind.
Han Li brought up the rear, his gaze sweeping about from time to time.