In the blood-red glow, Xuan Gu Shangren's horrifying crimson eyeballs rolled a few times before the light gradually faded.
"Not bad. That Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng is indeed still here. The residual pure spiritual energy it left behind can still be faintly seen on the surface of the stone hill." Xuan Gu spoke calmly after his eyes returned to their normal color.
Hearing the old devil's words,
But the result left him greatly disappointed—he couldn't detect anything unusual about the hill.
When Xuan Gu Shangren noticed the faint green light flickering in Han Li's eyes, he naturally understood what he was doing. After a disdainful laugh, he said in an indifferent tone:
"Don't delude yourself into thinking you can see the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng's pure spiritual energy. Only cultivators with sufficiently powerful spiritual sense can manage that. You need to have at least formed a Nascent Soul before you'd have that ability. And although I've switched to cultivating the ghost path, my originally powerful spiritual sense hasn't been damaged in the slightest."
There was a hint of cold mockery in Xuan Gu's words.
Han Li's face betrayed no emotion, but under the other's unintentional prompt, the Grand Development Art within him began to circulate slowly.
A moment later, Han Li felt a surge of joy.
Because his eyes had finally caught faint traces of cyan-hued light on the stone hill below—scattered haphazardly and faint to the extreme.
"Fortunately, before coming here, I'd already had the idea of snatching this Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng while I was at it. So I prepared some special items on a small island we passed. Now, if we set a trap and let the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng walk right into it, we'll be able to capture it easily." Unaware that Han Li could also see the pure spiritual energy, Xuan Gu gazed down at the stone hill and spoke casually.
Then he reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a gleaming golden object, which he held in his palm.
"What's this?" Han Li glanced at it with a look of surprise.
It was a golden thread ball about the size of a chicken egg, emitting a faint glow—it appeared to have been specially refined.
Seeing the confusion on Han Li's face, Xuan Gu Shangren let out a cold laugh, then suddenly gripped the ball with all five fingers as a flash of black light ran across his hand.
A thin golden thread shot out from the ball, growing longer and longer. It quickly crisscrossed back and forth before Xuan Gu's eyes, rapidly weaving into a delicate golden net—no larger than a palm, but extraordinarily intricate and shimmering with light.
"Only something made of pure gold can catch a Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng. It can easily ignore and evade all other magical treasures and tools. Hold onto this carefully, and when the time comes, use it to capture the spirit ginseng if it tries to flee." Xuan Gu stared at Han Li and instructed him solemnly.
Upon hearing this, Han Li raised his eyebrows, pondered for a moment, then without a word, beckoned toward the golden net.
With a whoosh, the net flew automatically into Han Li's hand, and without even looking at it, he placed it into his storage pouch.
Xuan Gu Shangren saw this and a faint smile appeared on his face. He flipped his palm and produced four small earth-yellow flags.
The runes on these small flags were layered one upon another, with faint light flickering beneath them.
"Oh!" Given Han Li's current expertise in formations, seeing these flags startled him at first. But after a moment's deliberation, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
"What? You recognize these flags too, Brother Han?" Xuan Gu was somewhat surprised to see the unusual expression on Han Li's face.
Han Li didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stared intently at the small flags for a while longer before looking up and speaking solemnly:
"Could these be the deployment tools for the Four Symbols Xuanwu Formation? Apart from this ancient formation, I really can't think of any formation flags that could compose a grand earth-attribute formation with just four small banners."