"We cannot reach the central hub directly from the other branch palace areas — absolutely impossible. We have no choice but to follow after them later. Stay quiet, and don't let them spot us. Once we're inside, while he's busy searching this area for treasures, we can still slip into the central region ahead of him." Xiao Ming deliberated for a moment before speaking in a measured tone.
"That's the only option. However, the area the Three Saints of the Shaman Spirits chose earlier is no ordinary place either. It seems to be the Blood Prison that Perfected Master Dingding used to suppress his great enemy from back then." Daoist Qingping nodded, then added with a trace of worry.
"Of course I saw that. But we simply don't have the manpower to split off right now. We can only let them go there. Although the Blood Prison may contain supreme treasures left behind by ancient powerhouses, compared to seizing control of the central hub first, we'll just have to accept it." Xiao Ming's brow furrowed as he spoke.
"What a shame. According to the inherited texts of our lineage, several ancient cultivators of power and divine abilities that were nearly on par with Perfected Master Dingding himself were truly sealed inside that Blood Prison. After all these years, even if their bodies have long perished, the legacies and treasures they left behind must be extraordinary." Daoist Qingping spoke with unconcealed regret.
"We had originally intended the Blood Prison as our second target. Daoist Qingping, the Three Saints of the Shaman Spirits went straight for that area — could it be that they know about the Blood Prison as well?" Madam Wan's expression darkened as she asked.
"Hard to say. Although Perfected Master Dingding's inheritance passed down only through my line of succession, we can't rule out the possibility that other cultivators of his era left behind some clues. In its heyday, the Blood Prison was famous throughout the entire Blood Sky Continent." Daoist Qingping's face flickered between confidence and uncertainty.
"Enough. Since we can't attend to the Blood Prison anyway, there's no point speculating further. It's about time — we should go in as well." Xiao Ming glanced toward the area
Madam Wan and Daoist Qingping naturally raised no objections.
The three of them shot forward in streaks of light and plunged into the region shrouded by the blue barrier of light, choosing a spot far from where Han Li had broken through.
……
"Cold. Incredibly cold."
Han Li hovered above a glacier world blanketed in vast drifts of blue, feather-light snow. A strange expression surfaced on his face as he sensed the bone-piercing chill radiating all around him. In some places on his body, the extreme cold had pierced straight through his protective spiritual light and crystallized into delicate blue frost.
Ever since he had perfected his Brahma Saint True Devil Art, such extreme cold was something he had seldom experienced.
Clearly, the environment manifested in this area was so bitter and frigid that the restrictions here must be far more formidable than any he had encountered before.
Han Li remained perfectly still, suspended in midair for a long while. Then, with a soft "poof," a layer of silver flames bloomed across his body, and the piercing cold vanished as if it had never existed.
His figure moved, drifting slowly forward. But after flying only a handful of miles, sudden gales erupted from every direction. The dense snowflakes froze in midair, then materialized into thousands upon thousands of blue ice sparrows seemingly conjured from nothing.
They spread their wings in unison and spat out volley after volley of blue spheres of light.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the spheres and felt their power. His expression shifted slightly. With one hand forming a seal, the silver flames across his body surged dramatically, condensing to several times their previous density.
The next instant, the blue spheres pelted into the silver flames by the hundreds, each one detonating on impact. Silver and blue light interwove violently, forming a massive pillar of wind that soared skyward……
In another stretch of the icy wilderness, Xiao Ming and his two companions had unleashed over a dozen treasures and were locked in fierce combat against a dozen blue giants, each one the size of a small mountain.
Every one of these giants could manipulate ice and snow directly, fashioning them into armor and enormous weaponry. Moreover, no matter how devastating the damage they sustained, as long as even a fragment of their bodies remained, the endless snowstorm swirling around them could instantly reconstitute their form — making them even more resilient than an ordinary Indestructible Body.
Because of this, even though Xiao Ming and the other two were far superior in actual strength, they were pinned down in place for the time being.
……
In a vast hall lined with countless blood-red pillars, the Three Saints of the Shaman Spirits guided their three colossal insect spirit beasts forward with caution, steering well clear of the pillars on either side.
At first glance, the blood-red columns appeared ordinary and unremarkable. But upon closer inspection, one would discover that their surfaces were studded with countless crimson skulls, from which rivers of thick blood cascaded ceaselessly from top to bottom.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, are we sure we haven't taken a wrong turn? Is this truly the entrance to the Blood Prison?" An elderly man seated atop a massive centipede turned to ask the companion beside him, a note of unease creeping into his words.
"Rest easy, Brother Wu. You saw for yourself how effortlessly we broke through the outer restrictions just now. That alone is enough to confirm that the records on that ancient stele were largely accurate. This place is undoubtedly the site where Perfected Master Dingding sealed away his great enemy all those years ago. Heh heh — back in our day, the supreme master of our Shaman Dao lineage, Lord Tiansha, fought Perfected Master Dingding for seven days and seven nights before losing by a single move and being thrown into the Blood Prison. Had it not been for that, given Lord Tiansha's talent and power, he surely would have ascended to the Immortal Realm as well." The other old man, seated upon the head of a giant black scorpion, spoke with complete confidence.