Not far behind him, there was actually a sunken area. It spanned a full hundred zhang across, its surroundings bare with not a blade of grass growing — clearly not something formed by nature.
Han Li's expression shifted slightly, but he first released his spiritual sense, quickly sweeping through everything within twenty to thirty li. Finding no trace of other cultivators, he finally felt at ease as he regarded the depression and slowly walked over.
Standing at the edge of the depression, Han Li examined it carefully, and a flicker of surprise crossed his face.
This was no natural depression at all — it was a perfectly circular pit.
The pit was filled with gray, hazy dust accumulated to unknown depths, making it impossible to see anything below.
Han Li stared at the great pit for a while, a contemplative look on his face.
After a brief pause, he formed a hand seal and swept both hands upward. A hurricane more than ten zhang tall materialized out of thin air before him.
He uttered the word "Go," and flicked his sleeve.
Immediately the hurricane swept up the dust from the ground and howled toward the center of the pit. Wherever the wind passed, rubble and soil were torn away in its wake. In moments, the true face of the stone pit was revealed.
Below was entirely stone wall — a dark red, lava-like surface, remarkably smooth.
"This is..."
Han Li recognized it at a glance. This was unmistakably formed by intense, high-temperature fire. Connecting that with the shape of the pit...
After a moment's thought, a look of shock appeared on his face.
Could this giant pit have been caused by a single fireball similar to the Fire Bullet Technique? If he himself released a fireball and struck a stone wall, a similar pit would form — but it would be a few zhang across at most. Compared to this hundred-zhang pit, it was a candle beside a bonfire.
Was this truly the power of ancient cultivators? Could their abilities really be so terrifying?
Han Li stood dazed in thought for a long while before finally letting out a long breath and shaking his head.
He was overthinking it. This pit could have been formed by the attack of some fire-attributed ancient treasure. But even so, the powers of ancient cultivators were indeed far beyond what today's cultivators could match.
Next, Han Li circled the stone pit slowly. Finding nothing else of particular note, he stopped and looked up at the sky.
It should have been around midday, but instead of the blindingly bright sun he had seen before the teleportation, the sky was filled with an endless expanse of yellow-tinged overcast clouds, emitting a faint glow.
Han Li was not surprised — he had encountered this kind of situation many times before.
It was the result of some kind of restriction covering the entire sky. By his estimation, he probably couldn't ascend too high now, or he would trigger the restriction.
Despite this expectation, Han Li still flicked his finger, and a Gold Devouring Beetle that he had somehow already retrieved shot from his hand and flew straight up into the air.
Han Li watched the insect, his face expressionless.
Sure enough, the beetle had barely reached fifty or sixty zhang above the ground when a bolt of blue lightning descended from nothingness, striking it dead on.
The beetle tumbled and fell from the sky, but when it dropped to seven or eight zhang above the ground, it spread its wings again and resumed flying as if nothing had happened.
Seeing this, Han Li's expression turned thoughtful. He then recalled the flying insect with his spiritual sense.
After determining his direction, spiritual light flickered around his body, and he flew slowly westward within a sphere of green light.
In this bizarre place, he dared not fly at full speed. Crashing headlong into some restriction or spatial rift would be plain suicide.
With prior agreements to uphold with both Zi Ling and Marquis Nanlong, Han Li planned to handle the two matters one by one.
He would put off the Spirit Candle Fruit for later. First, he would join forces with Marquis Nanlong to eliminate that Fire Toad Beast.
The Ghost Spirit Sect's people would surely search for the Spirit Candle Fruit after entering the valley as well, but Han Li didn't believe that the vague memories of a Nascent Soul survivor who had escaped from the valley would allow them to locate the fruit right away. Who knew how long that would take?
Moreover, even if he went through untold hardships to find this spirit fruit, he would have to immediately begin refining pills the moment he picked it, and after taking the pill, he would still need to sit in meditation to disperse the medicinal essence.
Such delays would cost not just a few days.
With that in mind, Han Li naturally wanted to secure the Fire Toad's inner core — of immense importance to Nangong Wan — first, and only then could he set about searching for the Spirit Candle Fruit with peace of mind.
Besides, he was also quite curious about what treasures might be on the remains of the ancient cultivator guarded by that Fire Toad Beast.
As he pondered, Han Li spared no effort in pushing his spiritual sense to its fullest. At the same time, blue light occasionally flickered in his eyes as he activated his Clarity Eye ability, guarding against any restrictions or spatial rifts that might evade his spiritual sense without his knowledge.
Though he still couldn't determine his exact position within the Outer Valley, he was clearly not too far from other cultivators.
After all, even though the teleportation array was random, it was random within a certain range.