Just as Han Li and the Holy-rank Demon Ape were finally locked in direct confrontation, deep within one of the labyrinthine corridors of demonic energy, the Crystal Clan woman Qianqian and the cyan Qilin phantom came to a halt beneath the protective veil of a dark barrier.
Less than fifteen zhang ahead of them stood a sheer black stone wall — the dead end of the corridor, with no path forward.
"This should be it!" The Qilin phantom's eyes flashed momentarily before it confirmed the words with certainty.
"Qi Ying, be certain you haven't made a mistake. The formation flags used to open the Spirit Nexus are single-use, and I only barely managed to refine one complete set," Qianqian said with extreme caution.
"A bit of prudence is warranted. Give me a moment." The cyan Qilin tilted its head in thought for a beat, then nodded in agreement.
It suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a cyan bead.
The bead spun in a quick circle before transforming into a wisp of cyan radiance that swept toward the stone wall opposite.
A bizarre sight then unfolded.
The cyan light vanished into the stone wall in a flash, but after only a brief moment, a low, resonant whistling sound emanated from deep within the wall. A dark gleam flickered across the wall's surface, and the cyan radiance was blasted back out by some tremendous force, as though repelled.
With a flash of spiritual light, the cyan radiance gathered together and condensed back into the bead.
"There's no issue — this is definitely the place." The cyan Qilin opened its mouth once more, drawing the bead back inside its body, excitement flickering in its eyes.
"Good. I'll set up the formation now and open the Spirit Nexus!" Upon hearing the miniature Qilin's assurance, Qianqian's face lit up with elation as well.
She immediately flipped her wrist, and a stack of pre-prepared cyan formation flags materialized in her hand.
The flags appeared ordinary enough at first glance, but a closer look revealed that the surfaces of the flags were actually embedded with dense, intricate networks of gold and silver filaments — layers upon layer resembling spiderwebs.
Qianqian flicked her wrist.
Several dozen streaks of cyan light shot outward like flowing streams, but midway they paused, then abruptly converged toward the center.
In the span of a single breath, a cyan formation several zhang in size materialized out of thin air and flashed directly into the stone wall opposite.
Yet the stone wall remained utterly silent — nothing out of the ordinary occurred at all.
Qianqian, however, seemed to have anticipated this. Without the slightest concern, she made two grasping gestures in the empty air before her.
In one hand appeared a small blue bell; in the other, a white ruyi scepter materialized.
The bell was entirely crystalline, with a faintly luminous mass of blue liquid drifting inside — a strikingly vivid sight. The ruyi scepter was ancient in design, its surface dull and even somewhat chipped and worn.
The Crystal Clan woman cast a pained glance at the two treasures in her hands, then abruptly flung both forward with both arms.
A mass of blue light and a mass of white light shot out simultaneously, wheeling through the air before crashing into each other with a resounding boom.
The two treasures shattered like porcelain, sending countless fragments scattering in every direction.
When the light subsided, two orbs of liquid — one blue, one red — hung suspended in the void, motionless.
The nearby miniature Qilin caught sight of the two substances, and a flicker of greed surfaced in its eyes, but it immediately suppressed the emotion and the look vanished. Still, it could not help but murmur under its breath:
"The spiritual blood of the Eight-Legged Primordial Beast and the Phoenix — you exhausted nearly everything you had accumulated over centuries of fortune just to obtain those. And then you spent over a century nurturing them inside those two rare artifacts. If consumed directly, they would be more than enough to completely purge and reshape your physical body. Even my spirit soul would benefit enormously."
"We Crystal Clan are different from ordinary races. The effects of True Spirit blood on me are far less than you imagine. Besides, no matter how rare True Spirit blood may be, it cannot compare to what lies within the True Spirit Nexus," Qianqian replied with remarkable composure.
"Heh heh, that much is true! Your Crystal Clan physique is indeed quite unique — only the things inside a True Spirit Nexus can truly be of great use to you. Using them as the key to unlock this Spirit Nexus is simply a last resort. After all, you and I share only a symbiotic bond. Without True Spirit essence blood, there is no way to lure the Cave Spirit out of its slumber. For any existence outside the True Spirits themselves, opening a True Spirit Nexus has always been a task of extreme difficulty," Qi Ying said with a low laugh, clearly in agreement.
The Crystal Clan woman offered a faint smile, said nothing more, and began flicking her fingers in rapid succession.
Streams of incantation seals shot forth one after another, vanishing into the two orbs of liquid without a trace.
Once the orbs absorbed the seals, they spun rapidly, then drew together and fused into a single sphere of swirling blue and red.
At Qianqian's gesture, the sphere drifted slowly toward the stone wall.
The low whistling sound from within the wall resonated once more, and the cyan light on the surface of the wall flickered. The cyan formation that had previously sunk into it reappeared in a flash.
The runes within the formation tumbled and rolled. With a brief rotation, it released a tendril of cyan radiance that swept the blue-red sphere inside.
The entire formation shuddered once, then sank back into the stone wall and disappeared without a trace.
The Crystal Clan woman's expression grew solemn. She murmured incantations under her breath while her hands formed seals ceaselessly.
This time, the stone wall did not return to its previous silence. Instead, a dark, roiling luminescence flowed across its surface, and the wall began to twist and distort as though coming alive.
Then, layer by layer, the stone wall cracked and peeled open, and something wreathed in hazy light squeezed its way out from within.
It was a face of light, several zhang across, bearing nothing but two eyes, a nose, and a large mouth — with no other features whatsoever and no indication of its age whatsoever.