One cultivated Buddhist divine abilities, while the other practiced Daoist techniques. On matters like these, they could naturally never see eye to eye.
Han Li, for his part, largely leaned toward the old man's viewpoint. Now that he had set foot on the path of cultivation, he would not trouble himself with concepts of an afterlife or future lives. His mind was set solely on achieving the Great Dao as swiftly as possible.
In the time that followed, Han Li slowly closed his eyes and entered meditation right beside the edge of the giant pit.
The monk and the old man's debate, of course, yielded no result, and in the end they too fell silent with their eyes shut.
Time trickled by, and in the blink of an eye three days and three nights had passed. The yellow mist in the great pit showed not the slightest change.
That day, Han Li's eyelids fluttered, and he opened his eyes.
After sweeping his spiritual sense casually toward the bottom of the pit, he couldn't help furrowing his brow slightly and spoke: "Fellow Daoists, how long have you two been here? Surely the date of the Yellow Millet Stone Spirit's tribulation hasn't been miscalculated?"
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han. The one responsible for the divination is a renowned master on our Holy Island who specializes in the art of divination. The chances of error are exceedingly slim. Master Tianchan and I haven't been here all that long either — we arrived only about ten days before you, Brother Han. According to the specific divination results, the Stone Spirit should undergo its tribulation within this very month. So it shouldn't be long at all. There may even be movement within these next few days," Black Rain Sovereign said calmly.
"It seems I was a bit too impatient! Oh — what's that?" Han Li had just been about to offer a few words in reply when his expression suddenly changed and he blurted out in surprise.
The other two, upon hearing Han Li's exclamation, immediately locked their gazes sharply downward into the great pit, their faces taking on solemn expressions.
At the bottom of the great pit, the yellow mist had begun to churn violently, and wave after wave of an aura far more frigid than before surged outward from within. The lower half of the stone walls were silently coated in a layer of milky-yellow, crystalline frost.
The sight was utterly bizarre!
A thunderclap boomed overhead!
Han Li's heart stirred, and he raised his head to look up into the sky.
High above the mountaintop — tens of thousands of zhang up — fierce winds howled as mass after mass of ink-black clouds gathered rapidly, roiling and shifting into various shapes. From within came rumbling sounds, as if countless bolts of lightning were being born.
"Could this be…?" Han Li murmured, trailing off.
"Haha, that's right! The Stone Spirit's heavenly tribulation has arrived. It will soon rise from the Netherfire. Master Tianchan, let us begin our preparations!" Upon seeing this sight, Black Rain Sovereign burst into hearty laughter. His figure shifted, transforming into a ball of black light that shot upward.
On the other side, the monk's face lit up with delight. With a great sweep of his wide sleeves, he too flew up into the air.
Then, one was seen muttering incantations while flicking his ten fingers outward in succession, and the other's twin sleeves danced ceaselessly as formation flags and formation discs shot out in dense volleys, instantly covering the airspace above the entire great pit before vanishing with a flicker.
In the blink of an eye, the two had worked together to erect an extraordinarily formidable grand restriction formation, its restrictive power blanketing every inch of the mountaintop.
At that moment, Black Rain Sovereign's hand seals halted, and his figure suddenly spun around in midair.
A sharp whistling erupted!
Countless black specks burst outward from his body, each one flashing before popping and bursting on its own, dissolving into countless black threads that vanished without a trace.
On the other side, Master Tianchan let out a low shout, flipped his palm, and produced a fiery crimson alms bowl.
With a single turn of the bowl, a phoenix's cry rang out from within, and three crimson fireballs shot out!
Each was only about the size of a head, but with a flick of the monk's finger, they roared and swelled in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into three titanic birds of flame, each more than ten zhang tall, that let out clear cries as they took form — three Fire Phoenixes, their entire bodies blazing crimson.
"Fire Phoenixes!"
At the sight of these three enormous birds, Han Li couldn't help drawing a sharp breath, involuntarily crying out in shock.
"Hehe, forgive this humble monk's meager display. These are merely three Flame Burst Birds that carry a sliver of Fire Phoenix bloodline — hardly comparable to true Fire Phoenixes. That Stone Spirit has lived within the Netherfire for so long that its body should now be supremely yin. The breath of these Flame Burst Birds is quite mystical; they should prove quite effective at restraining that spirit creature," Master Tianchan said with a gentle smile.
"So that's how it is. Had their auras been a touch stronger, these Flame Burst Birds would look far too much like the legendary Fire Phoenixes," Han Li remarked, still clicking his tongue in amazement after the monk's explanation.
Meanwhile, Black Rain Sovereign, after releasing who knew how many more black points of light from his body, suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a small, dark-purple gourd.
The gourd was only a few inches tall, its surface shimmering with mysterious specks of silver light. When its mouth opened, a crystal-blue scorpion about a foot in size shot out from within. It bore a pair of translucent wings on its back, giving it an exquisitely delicate appearance.
Afterward, the monk and the old man unhurriedly performed a series of spells upon the four spirit beasts, concealing their forms and auras from sight.