Chapter 195: Discovery of the Fire Vein
Arcs of lightning were surging over the surface of the ball of lightning as it expanded even further in size while radiating dazzling silver light, gradually beginning to overwhelm the giant lightning sword.
Thick bolts of silver lightning were shooting out of the ball lightning like a series of massive devilish claws, itching to tear Han Li into pieces.
Right at this moment, Han Li\'s eyes suddenly lit up, and it seemed that he had only just returned to his senses.
The fingers of his left hand moved in succession, and the giant lightning sword instantly began to radiate dazzling silver and purple lightning while giving off a burst of violent rumbling.
In the blink of an eye, the lightning sword swelled to around twice its original size, and not only was it able to keep the giant ball of lightning at bay, it was able to instantly gain the upper hand.
Ye Feng\'s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the huge lightning sword lit up once again, and the lightning runes on its surface swelled drastically in size.
As a result, the semi-transparent lightning sword instantly took on a far more substantial appearance, and it began to release an incredibly sharp aura as it came crashing down with devastating might.
The silver ball of lightning was sliced into two by the lightning sword with ease, revealing the silver bead inside, which was giving off dazzling radiance.
The lightning sword struck the bead with unerring accuracy, scattering the lightning around it, and the bead was instantly sent flying back, while the spiritual light radiating from its surface dimmed significantly, having clearly had its spiritual nature damaged by the blow.
Ye Feng immediately threw up a small mouthful of blood, while the giant ball of lightning exploded into countless arcs of silver lightning that erupted in all directions, forming a sea of silver lightning that was several hundred feet in radius.
What everyone failed to notice was a wisp of near-transparent silver light rising discreetly up from the ground before vanishing into Ye Feng\'s body.
The lightning sword didn\'t pause for even a single moment as it continued to come crashing down toward Ye Feng\'s head, and an alarmed and horrified look appeared on his face as he tried to resist, but the entire surrounding space had been completely enshrouded under the terrifying pressure released by the giant sword, rendering him immobilized.
However, the lightning sword drew to an abrupt halt around a foot above his head, and it continued to flash with lightning.
Ye Feng was staring intently at the lightning sword as he gulped nervously, not daring to move even a single muscle.
In the next instant, the giant lightning sword disintegrated into countless arcs of silver and purple lightning that flowed back into Han Li\'s body.
"Looks like you still have a way to go," Han Li remarked in an indifferent voice, then made a hand seal to dispel the surrounding yellow light barrier.
"Your powers are truly astounding, Elder Li. I concede my inferiority," Ye Feng said with a dark expression, then drew the silver bead back to himself before promptly departing.
The purple-haired man and the others hurriedly followed along, and the square-faced cultivator from the Beast Rearing Fields also took his leave.
Meanwhile, Han Li was watching their departing figures with a contemplative look in his eyes.
At this point, the round-faced young man had already opened the restriction around the Two-headed Griffin\'s enclosure, and the creature made its way over to Han Li before crouching down in an extremely tame and timid manner.
Han Li patted the beast\'s neck as a faint smile appeared on his face, then released a burst of azure light with a sweep of his sleeve to envelop the giant beast\'s entire body.
The huge Two-headed Griffin rapidly shrank into a ball of spiritual light, then vanished into a spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist in a flash.
"Please pardon me for offering unsolicited advice, Elder Li, but Ye Feng\'s master, Elder Mo Xie, is a True Immortal who has attained the power of laws, and it\'s said that he\'s even run for the position of deputy dao lord in the past, so do be careful," the round-faced young man cautioned in a quiet voice.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "What else do you know about this Ye Feng?"
"I only recently joined the Blaze Dragon Dao, so I don\'t know too much about Senior Martial Brother Ye Feng. However, I\'ve heard that he previously had very ordinary aptitude and was only a normal inner sect disciple who wasn\'t remarkable in any way. However, in the past three years, he had somehow managed to attain a set of extremely powerful lightning-attribute abilities, and his cultivation base had progressed rapidly as a result.
“Only then did he catch the eye of Elder Mo Xie, and he\'s currently one of the prominent figures among all of the inner sect disciples. His rise has been quite meteoric, so its story is known to almost everyone in the Blaze Dragon Dao," the round-faced young man replied.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
The round-faced young man stood off to the side in silence, not daring to interrupt him.
It didn\'t take long before Han Li returned to his senses, then summoned a white jade vial that he tossed at the round-faced young man as he said, "You\'ve accompanied me for an entire day, so you can have these pills as thanks for your efforts."
The round-faced young man hurriedly caught the jade vial, then removed the stopper, upon which an ecstatic look immediately surfaced in hsi eyes.
"Thank you, Elder Li!"
Meanwhile, Han Li had already flown away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
……
Half a day later.
A streak of azure light shot forth from the distance, landing on the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak before fading to reveal Han Li.
The mountain summit was quite spacious, with a courtyard that was close to 10 acres in area situated directly next to the mountain face. Inside the courtyard were all types of antiquated-looking buildings and bridges that were enshrouded in cloud and mist, giving the entire place the appearance of an immortal abode.
On the mountain face directly neighboring the courtyard was a pair of tightly shut stone doors, which appeared to have been used for seclusion purposes.
To the left of the courtyard was a completely empty spirit medicine field. It seemed that following the demise of the elder who had previously lived here, the spirit medicines growing in the field had been harvested by the sect, while the field had been left completely untended to since then.
At this moment, Meng Yungui and the others were in the process of cleaning up the courtyard and the spirit medicine field, and they hurriedly stopped what they were doing at the sight of Han Li\'s return before gathering around him.
"Elder Li!"
Han Li gave them a slight nod, then handed the dark purple jade badge and the spirit beast pouch on his waist to Meng Yungui. He then instructed them to create a cave halfway up the mountain for the Two-headed Griffin to reside in before departing on his own to take a stroll over the Crimson Dawn Peak.
This was where he was going to live from now on, so he naturally had to make a thorough inspection of the place.
It didn\'t take long before Han Li arrived at the foot of the Crimson Dawn Peak, and the closer he got to the ground, the denser the surrounding fire miasma became, and the higher the air temperature.
Now that he had reached the ground, he could feel a scorching aura surging up at him from beneath the earth, releasing waves of sweltering heat.
A hint of elation and intrigue appeared in his eyes upon seeing this.
While inspecting the Inkspirit Scenic Scroll, he identified from the terrain of the mountain and the state of the Crimson Dawn Peak that there seemed to have been a strong fire vein here, and that was why he had chosen this particular mountain.
As it turned out, he was correct, and judging from what he could see at this moment, the fire vein here was even more powerful than he had anticipated.
All of a sudden, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes as he turned to the left, then began to fly in that direction, arriving in front of the waterfall after just a few seconds.
The waterfall resembled a massive sheet of silver fabric that was tumbling down from the heavens amid a loud rumbling sound, sending a watery mist erupting in all directions upon crashing into the pond down below.
A solemn look appeared on Han Li\'s face as he cast his gaze forward, and he raised a finger to release a bolt of silver lightning as thick as an adult human arm, which hurtled directly toward the waterfall.
As soon as the bolt of silver lightning struck the waterfall, it instantly vanished without a trace.
A vindicated smile appeared on Han Li\'s face upon seeing this.
This waterfall had been conjured up by an illusory restriction that had the ability to conceal itself from spiritual sense detection.
Prior to this, he had inspected the entire Crimson Dawn Peak with his spiritual sense, but still failed to notice this place. However, the restriction was a little damaged, so the concealment effect had been compromised, and Han Li just so happened to have been nearby. Otherwise, he most likely still wouldn\'t have been able to discover the secret here.
Blue light flashed within Han Li\'s eyes as he peered into the waterfall, and a contemplative look appeared on his face.
Moments later, azure light flashed over his body as he flew straight into the waterfall, vanishing in a flash just like that bolt of silver lightning from before.
The space near the waterfall immediately began to ripple, and a string of rumbling booms rang out from within as bursts of light of different colors erupted out of the rippling space before flying away in all directions.
The surrounding space was beginning to ripple more and more violently, while the lights shooting out from within were also becoming brighter and brighter.
Close to an hour later, a resounding boom rang out as the waterfall abruptly shuddered before shattering like a mirror.
Han Li reappeared in mid-air, and his face was slightly pale, clearly indicating that breaking this restriction had not been an easy task, even for him.
After taking a pill, he cast his gaze toward the spot where the waterfall used to be, and he was greeted by the sight of a small valley, in which the ground and the rocks were all of a crimson color.
There was a scorching aura emanating out of the valley, and boundless crimson fire miasma was surging out from within. It seemed that this was the source of the fire miasma that enveloped the entirety of the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Han Li flew into the valley, arriving directly at its deepest part.
The temperature here was even higher, and the surrounding air was warping and shimmering from the scorching heat.
In the deepest part of the valley was a huge fiery red cave that was 70 to 80 feet tall. The walls of the cave were of a reddish-black color, and there were waves of scorching heat surging out from within alongside fire miasma that resembled dense smoke.
Bursts of dull rumbling could also be heard ringing out inside the cave, and Han Li\'s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this as he flew straight into the cave.
Inside the cave was a long passageway that extended underground, and gusts of scorching wind were blowing out from within. There were also cracks on the wall, seeping out of which was dense red fire miasma that drifted out of the cave with the wind.
The entire passageway was filled with incredibly sweltering heat, and the average cultivator would\'ve instantly been incinerated into ashes here, but this amount of heat posed no threat to Han Li, and he continued onward.
At the same time, he raised an arm to release a ball of silver flames, which transformed into his Essence Fire Raven.
As soon as the fire raven appeared, it immediately cast its gaze deeper into the cave with excitement in its eyes, then spread its wings and flew on ahead.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li\'s face as he followed along behind the fire raven in an unhurried manner.
The main reason why he had chosen the Crimson Dawn Peak as the site for his cave abode was for the sake of his Essence Fire Raven.
The fire raven was currently nowhere near the peak of its powers, and it hadn\'t had a chance to recuperate. During his travels, Han Li wasn\'t able to aid it in its recovery, and now that he had a relatively stable place to stay, he naturally had to consider ways to help the fire raven recover.
Mo Guang had previously mentioned that Flames of Essence were extremely renowned even in the Immortal Realm, so he was confident that the fire raven would be of great help to him once it made a full recovery.
As soon as he arrived in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, he had already detected that there were several rich underground fire veins here.
The Crimson Dawn Peak was very secluded in location, so the fire vein here was most likely only a branch of the enormous fire veins in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, but as long as he was willing to invest sufficient time, the Essence Fire Raven should\'ve been able to eventually make a full recovery.