Just as last time, Han Li slipped silently into the demonic qi abyss under the protection of the golden arcs.
As the rumbling of thunder grew fainter, the golden radiance of the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning gradually receded into the darkness, until it vanished without a trace.
On the surface of the sea, Zhiyang Shangren and the others were engaged in conversation.
"Brother Zhiyang! Do you truly believe that Fellow Daoist Han's Evil-Warding Divine Lightning is insufficient for a single round trip, as you said?" Wei Wuya stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he addressed Zhiyang Shangren.
"What does Brother Wei mean by that? Are you suggesting that this poor Daoist's earlier words were untrue?" The Daoist's expression darkened, and he grew somewhat displeased.
"Heh! Shangren, please don't misunderstand — I meant nothing of the sort. I simply felt that Fellow Daoist Han agreed to this a bit too readily, and so I asked out of curiosity, nothing more." Wei Wuya replied with a faint smile.
"If that is all, then I am not entirely certain myself. However, it is true that the deeper one goes into the demonic qi abyss, the greater the consumption of magical power. To safely make a round trip, the amount of Evil-Warding Divine Lightning required is indeed staggering. I do not believe Fellow Daoist Han truly has that much divine lightning at his disposal. Perhaps, beyond the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning, he possesses some other ability that can temporarily resist the demonic qi." Zhiyang Shangren's expression softened somewhat as he spoke in an even tone.
"That is certainly a possibility. After all, the world of immortal cultivation is filled with extraordinary techniques and secret arts! But in any case, if this calamity can be resolved smoothly, that is always a good thing." Wei Wuya said with a smile, then swept his gaze to the side, glancing at Old Demon Hehuan nearby.
The large man in black had been standing with his arms crossed, staring at the center of the vortex with an expressionless face, not uttering a word.
A momentary silence fell among the three.
...
At a depth of three thousand zhang within the demonic qi abyss, a sphere of light flickered with golden lightning as it hung motionless in the air.
Inside the barrier, Han Li gripped the jade slip that recorded the location of the formation disc, studying its contents with a grave expression.
After a while, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense and looked around him.
The oppressive blackness seemed to have reached the very bottom of the abyss — he could see nothing at all in any direction.
Han Li furrowed his brow slightly, then suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a small sword no more than an inch long.
A flash of golden light — the small golden sword shot out of the barrier, and at the same time a layer of fine electric arcs appeared along the blade. After circling once, it flew to a position above Han Li's head, then spun rapidly within the flashes of lightning, transforming into a golden light-wheel about an inch in diameter — a curious sight indeed.
Han Li formed a hand seal below and pointed at the light-wheel overhead. It paused for a moment, then shot off as a streak of golden light.
Without a moment's hesitation, Han Li moved his body forward, the barrier over his head as he followed close behind.
After flying horizontally for several hundred zhang, the small golden sword ahead suddenly changed direction, plunging straight downward.
With a muffled thud, the flying sword embedded itself in something, sinking halfway in before stopping.
Seeing this, a flash of joy crossed Han Li's face, and he appeared in the air a zhang or so above the small sword.
Where his gaze fell, the surroundings were still shrouded in blackness, but the faint glow of the electric arcs dancing along the sword offered enough light to make out the area somewhat.
Han Li discovered that where the sword had pierced was what appeared to be a flat, enormous stone.
After a moment's thought, Han Li raised both hands and pressed his palms against the inner wall of the barrier.
The net of lightning on the barrier's surface suddenly blazed with a blinding radiance, and at the same time several arcs of golden lightning, each as thick as a bowl's mouth, shot outward from the barrier. They transformed into several enormous golden pythons that coiled and circled through the surrounding area.
Within a radius of more than ten zhang, all the demonic qi was swept clean by the golden pythons' passage.
The "enormous stone" below was fully revealed under the illumination of the spiritual light.
Han Li looked more closely, and his expression froze in surprise.
That was no "enormous stone" at all — it was clearly a platform resembling an altar. And it was quite large at that; within the range of the golden arcs, he could not even see its full extent.
Han Li felt a flicker of astonishment.
So the formation eye that those formation masters had identified for placing the formation disc turned out to be a place like this. Things were getting interesting.
Han Li immediately drove the golden arcs and flew rapidly around the altar in a single circuit, finally forming a rough impression of the platform.
It was a square platform roughly an acre in size. Both its design and the patterns carved into the stone walls around it indicated that it was of great antiquity — undoubtedly a creation of ancient cultivators.
When Han Li flew back to his starting position, he waved his hand toward the small sword still embedded in the ground, and it immediately transformed into a streak of golden light that flew back to him.
After making a quick mental estimate, Han Li flew toward the center of the platform.
Moments later, a few points of white light flickered in the distance ahead.
His interest piqued, he increased his speed slightly. At last, the scene at the center of the platform came into clear view. A stone tablet, shattered into several pieces, lay quietly there — only a small section of its base still stood upright.
His gaze flickered as he studied the ruins of the stone tablet for several moments.
Though the tablet had been destroyed, one could still make out some fragmented runes carved into its surface — runes that even Han Li could not decipher. And the tablet itself appeared to be forged from some unknown material, as spiritual essence still lingered within it, with faint milky-white spiritual light flickering across its surface from time to time.