"You crippled your own cultivation? You would actually do such a thing?" Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, his tone laced with skepticism.
"If I hadn't abandoned most of my cultivation, Bao wouldn't have simply banished me to the wastelands and let it go at that. After all, I was once her most trusted confidant, and I stabbed her in the back with a fatal blow. That I was able to keep my life this time is already far beyond what I expected." Yuan Cha explained in a flat tone.
"So that's how it is. It seems the bond between you and Bao back then truly was extraordinary — that she'd still be willing to let you go under these circumstances." Han Li nodded, a contemplative look crossing his face.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I once offended you. Now my cultivation has fallen, and I know full well I'm no match for you. Now that we've run into each other, how do you intend to deal with me? Are you here to settle old scores?" Yuan Cha finally let a trace of something unusual enter her gaze as she asked slowly.
"If Bao hadn't already dealt with you, I might very well have been interested in returning the favor for what happened back then. But now... that urge has faded considerably. Not only has your cultivation plummeted, but your mental state has collapsed as well. Maintaining your current level is already an achievement. Reaching Grand Ascension again? There's no hope in this lifetime. Given that you were once a Grand Ascension ancestor, I won't do anything too excessive. Just sever one arm. Do that, and we'll consider the grudges between us wiped clean." Han Li was silent for a moment before speaking in a deep voice.
"One arm? That simple? No problem!" Yuan Cha was stunned for an instant, but then immediately replied with a bitter smile.
As soon as the words left her mouth, she raised one arm, opened her mouth toward it, and spat out a streak of white light that coiled around the limb.
The entire arm fell silently from the shoulder, the wound as smooth as a mirror's surface — not a single drop of blood.
With a soft *pfft*, Yuan Cha pressed her other hand downward through the air, and under an invisible tremendous force, the severed arm disintegrated into a rain of blood that ceased to exist entirely.
"May I leave now?" Yuan Cha's face had gone even paler after destroying her own arm as she asked.
"You may. Go." Han Li nodded, with no intention of making things more difficult for her.
"I thank Fellow Daoist Han for your magnanimity. We will most likely never meet again." Yuan Cha's face twitched faintly. She gave Han Li a slight bow from a distance, then blurred and transformed into a streak of blue light that shot into the sky and vanished.
Within the flight light, the woman's injured shoulder emitted a faint glow of black light, and a brand-new arm reformed amid intertwined dark energy. However, even though the arm could regenerate on its own, the further loss of vital essence to her body was unavoidable.
"Brother Han, you really let her go like that? Aren't you afraid she might seek revenge someday?" Yin Yue had stood quietly on the flying boat the entire time, and she finally couldn't help asking.
"Bao was willing to give her a way out, so it wouldn't be right for me to overstep and actually kill her. Who knows how much of their old bond still remains? The fact that Bao could let the matter from back then go so easily shows the relationship between them is far beyond what outsiders can imagine. I'll be returning to the Demon Realm in the future, and it wouldn't do to make my relationship with this Demon Realm Holy Ancestor too hostile. As for revenge — Yuan Cha's chances of returning to Grand Ascension are virtually nil, and her heart has turned to ashes. I doubt she'd even harbor such thoughts. And with her cultivation unable to return to Grand Ascension, her lifespan will be nearly spent. I have nothing to worry about." Han Li shook his head and replied.
"That's true enough. Even if she really did have such intentions, with your abilities, Brother Han, you wouldn't give it a second thought. But I can't help feeling a bit wistful! Back in the mortal realm, a single strand of her split soul nearly killed us both at Kunwu Mountain. And now the real thing has ended up like this." Yin Yue gazed in the direction where Yuan Cha's flight light had vanished and let out a soft sigh.
She wasn't truly sympathetic toward this former Demon Realm Holy Ancestor — it was simply that the contrast between before and after was so stark that she couldn't help feeling a complicated mix of emotions.
"Yuan Cha poses no threat to us. There's no need to dwell on her. But let's retrieve the Weeping Spirit vault as quickly as possible, lest complications arise." Han Li said lightly.
"Brother Han speaks wisely!" Bao naturally had no objections.
The flying boat hummed, made another turn, and shot off in its original direction.
Half a day later, the boat carrying the two of them appeared above a vast, remarkably flat ice plain.
But what was bizarre was that right in the center of this ice plain, there was an incongruous pale green lake that had no business being there.
The lake appeared to be only a few thousand mu in size, but steam rolled across its surface, and bubbles the size of bowls periodically rose from the depths.
Along the lake's edge, clusters of short, dark-green shrubs grew — a small miracle amid the endless ice.
The flying boat blurred and reappeared at low altitude near the shore.
Han Li stood at the bow, surveyed the lake's surface for a moment, then suddenly smiled and remarked, "Interesting."
"Brother Han, this is where the secret map points. It does look quite different from everywhere else. But after so many years, surely some passing demon has discovered the vault's existence?" Bao asked curiously.
"The Weeping Spirit Holy Ancestor was a Grand Ascension demon. The treasures he left behind wouldn't be something ordinary high-ranking demons could discover. And even if other Grand Ascension demons came here in person, without that secret vault map, they probably wouldn't find anything either." Han Li smiled, then swept one sleeve toward the lake's surface.
A sharp whistling sound!
Four crystal bricks shot out instantly, spinning rapidly as they emitted five-colored radiance, then hovered motionlessly above the lake.
Han Li formed a hand seal with one hand while casually pointing a single finger toward the lake's surface, uttering the word "Open" at the same time.
*Boom!* Countless rune characters poured from the four crystal bricks, swirled and danced through the air, then suddenly condensed into a five-colored light formation roughly one mu in size.
Before Han Li even needed to activate it with further spells, the formation began spinning rapidly on its own. From its center came a muffled boom, and a pillar of grayish light shot forth, vanishing into the lake in a flash.