Han Li raised his hand and beckoned toward the azure ancient halberd.
A ripple of green light immediately shimmered across the halberd's surface, and with a sharp whoosh, it shot toward Han Li at full speed.
Han Li extended his arm and caught the halberd with effortless ease, holding it horizontally before him. After giving it a couple of appraising glances, he suddenly smiled and handed it to Yinyue beside him. "This treasure should be a sacred artifact that has absorbed a fragment of a Profound Heaven treasure. It's of little use to me anymore, but it should suit you perfectly."
"Thank you, Brother Han. Then I won't stand on ceremony," Yinyue said with a delighted heart, not declining as she took the ancient halberd and began examining it with obvious joy.
At that moment, Han Li waved his hand once more, and the yellow gourd flew through the air into his palm.
"What's this..." Han Li inspected the item briefly, a flash of surprise crossing his face. After a moment's thought, he turned his hand over and silently stored the gourd away, then turned his gaze to the last of the three treasures.
That pitch-black miniature flying vessel was clearly the legendary "Demon Spirit Sacred Vessel." Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly and studied it for a while before a faint smile appeared on his face again. He formed a one-handed incantation seal and pointed at the vessel in midair.
*Pfft.* The black vessel trembled slightly, then rose slowly from the stone platform on its own. Dark runes rolled across its surface in waves, and its body began to swell wildly in size. The other treasures in the entire hall even began to hum and vibrate.
...
Half an hour later, the surface of the lake at ground level suddenly churned as massive waves surged up from nowhere, spreading outward in all directions with violent force.
A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering boom rang out!
The ice field — encompassing roughly ten thousand acres, lake and all — cracked apart inch by inch.
Amid a storm of flying snow and ice, a colossal, mountain-like black figure burst out from below.
It was a colossal vessel over a thousand zhang in length.
The ship towered more than a dozen decks high, its entire hull gleaming an immaculate black, covered in countless mysterious spirit patterns. Along both the bow and stern, over a dozen silver banners of varying heights stood tall, their surfaces faintly inscribed with images of exotic beasts and strange birds.
On every deck of the great vessel, ranks of demon crystal puppet guards stood ramrod straight.
A thunderous roar!
The colossal vessel transformed into a streak of black light and tore through the sky, vanishing beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye.
...
Two months later, above an unnamed minor mountain range in the Spirit Realm, a deafening rumble suddenly erupted as rolling black clouds surged in from every direction toward a single point, swirling into an enormous black vortex.
Waves of spatial fluctuations emanated from within!
After a thunderclap-like explosion, countless silver arcs wove and flickered inside the vortex, and the pitch-black colossal vessel slowly emerged from it. The surrounding void warped violently, as though the entire sky were being forcibly torn apart.
On the highest platform of the great vessel, Han Li stood motionless with his eyes gently closed.
Yinyue stood behind him, a hint of excitement on her face.
"We've finally returned to the Spirit Realm — and it was far easier than I expected. This Demon Spirit Sacred Vessel also possesses spatial abilities. That's a rather pleasant surprise."
Once the entire vessel had cleared the vortex, Han Li opened his eyes, a satisfied look in them.
"The spatial node we found wasn't very stable to begin with. I had assumed that choosing to return through it would take considerably longer," Yinyue replied with a radiant smile.
"Regardless, this trip to the Demon Realm was well worth the journey," Han Li said with a smile.
"Indeed!" Yinyue nodded repeatedly, overjoyed at the thought of her share of the treasures from the Crying Spirit secret vault.
"Well then, now that we're back in this realm, let's first determine our location, then head straight for Holy Island. Brother Mo and Patriarch Ao Xiao should both be waiting for us there." Han Li swept his spiritual sense across the entire mountain range and spoke in a calm, unhurried tone.
"Oh? From the way you sound, Brother Han, it seems we're not too far from the human territories," Yinyue said, perking up.
"There was some error in the calculations, but we actually ended up closer to the human territories than I anticipated," Han Li replied.
"Wonderful! Then let's be on our way right now," Yinyue said with delight.
Han Li chuckled softly without giving a direct answer. Beneath him, the Demon Spirit Sacred Vessel shuddered once, let out a resonant hum, and shot forward at full speed.
The black vortex left behind in their wake slowly dissipated and vanished not long after the great vessel departed.
...
Six months later, on Holy Island at the border between the human and demon beast races, a silver-haired youth and an elderly man were conversing in the main hall of the primary temple — none other than Patriarch Ao Xiao and Mo Jianli.
On both sides of the hall below them, over a dozen Holy Island Elders stood respectfully with their hands clasped.
"If we go by the timeline, that Han boy should have been back long ago. Don't tell me he's run into trouble again in the Demon Realm."