In a single instant, the silver fire bird shook its wings, and its body surged in size once more, expanding to several hundred zhang in span. Every feather across its body blazed with rolling flames, illuminating the upper half of the valley in brilliant silver radiance.
Han Li watched this scene unfold, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes. He formed a hand seal and uttered a single word: "Draw."
The Spirit Devouring Fire Bird immediately dipped its head and spat a blast of flame downward.
A tide of silver fire cascaded down, submerging all the mystical ice surrounding the cold pool.
Every patch of ice dissolved at a startling rate, and specks of silver light drifted free from within, swiftly merging into the silver flames.
In the span of a single breath, all the ice layers vanished without a trace, and the cold pool was once again fully exposed. The silver fire rolled onward without pause, enveloping the surface of the pool as well.
Amid the wild flickering of the flames, the piercing cold surging from the pool was transformed strand by strand into wisps of silver haze, devoured and assimilated by the silver fire with ease — which only bolstered the fire's momentum further.
The Spirit Devouring True Flame was originally a variant of true fire that merged yin and yang into one. After Han Li had repeatedly refined and absorbed external energies into it over the years, it had become an extraordinary existence in its own right — one capable of assimilating extreme cold and extreme heat alike, pushing its power to even greater heights.
Earlier, when the Asura Spider clan had first unsealed the cold pool, the Spirit Devouring True Flame within Han Li's body had grown wildly restless, desperately craving the cold energy here.
That had left him both surprised and delighted.
So many years had passed, and he had never seen the Spirit Devouring True Flame exhibit such a powerful reaction.
Back when he had traveled through the Spirit Realm and ventured into several regions of extreme cold — places where he had attempted to absorb frigid energies — the true flame had never responded with anything close to this intensity.
Moreover, Han Li was confident that the extreme cold which had left the Asura Spiders utterly helpless could be effortlessly neutralized by the Spirit Devouring True Flame's peculiar abilities alone.
Of course, he had no intention of volunteering this information or displaying it in front of others.
Which was precisely why he had allowed the woman and the rest of the Asura Spiders to continue relying on their formation-based approach to retrieve the treasure.
Now Han Li hovered high above the valley, quietly observing everything below, a faint glint of anticipation on his face.
But as time trickled by, the cold energy seeping from the pool began to weaken gradually — it seemed the upper layers of frigid air had been almost entirely consumed by the Spirit Devouring True Flame.
Han Li furrowed his brow and pointed a finger at the silver fire bird in midair.
The bird spun once in a nimble circle and shrank at tremendous speed. In a mere instant it had reverted to roughly a ten-foot span. With a clear, resonant cry, it transformed into a ball of fire and streaked downward.
A muffled hiss!
The instant the fire bird plunged into the silver flames below, all the silver fire gathered together as if caught in a hurricane's grip, converging and vanishing entirely into the bird's body.
With a flash of silver light, the fire bird plunged beneath the water's surface and disappeared.
Only faint, rumbling sounds could be heard emanating from the depths of the pool, accompanied by flickers of silver light that pulsed ceaselessly.
Han Li gently closed his eyes, his hands still holding the seal, murmuring an unrecognizable incantation in an extremely low voice.
At this point, the cold energy rising from the pool began to dissipate at an even faster rate.
An hour later, when the silver fire bird let out another long cry and burst from the depths of the cold pool, every last trace of frigid energy within had been completely exhausted. No chill remained whatsoever.
The pool had become no different from an ordinary body of water.
Han Li opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird, his expression brimming with undisguised delight.
Though the fire bird's body was still wreathed in rolling silver flames, beneath the raging fire its form had taken on a translucent, crystalline quality — faintly resembling a solid entity.
Clearly, after absorbing the pool's staggering reserves of cold energy, the fire bird had undergone yet another transformation.
Of course, this change was only just beginning.
The frigid energy in this pool had been enough to make even ordinary Mahayana-stage cultivators hesitant to venture deep into its waters — that spoke volumes to just how extreme the cold had been. Though the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird was profoundly mystical, there was no way it could fully refine such a vast quantity of frigid energy in so short a time. It had forcibly drawn it all into its body for now, to be slowly refined over the days to come.
Han Li took a light breath and shifted his hand seal slightly, intending to put the Spirit Devouring Fire Bird away.
But just then, the fire bird opened its beak and spat out a sphere of white light that shot straight toward Han Li.
Han Li blinked in surprise. Instinctively, his arm blurred and his hand caught the sphere of light.
He lowered his gaze to look. It was a crystalline orb roughly the size of a chicken egg, transparent and clear to the eye — yet piercingly cold.
Had his protective spiritual light not been thick enough, and his physical body not been formidable enough, his palm would have been injured the instant it made contact with the pearl.