The grey-robed monk stealthily gave Han Li a sound transmission, “Brother Han, what do you think? Although Fellow Daoist Arctic Dragon’s words hold reason, I have my suspicions. As for Fellow Daoist Long, I know she has some relations.h.i.+p with North Night Palace. We’d best be careful!”

Han Li’s heart trembled and he shot a glance at the monk, seeing that he was smiling at him.

As he pondered over the validity of the monk’s words, a huge boom rumbled from Spirit Void Hall above them. The entire cavern faintly trembled as if a result from an intense strike.

Surprise was faintly revealed from everyone’s faces.

At the moment, if one was on top of North Night Palace’s giant mountain, they would spot a majestic snow phoenix the size of a hundred meters. It was circling the barrier covering the huge mountain, glacial winds whistling past its wings. Its claws held a giant glacier three times larger than itself, and it let go.

The towering glacier tore through the air as it fell, resulting in a world-shaking explosion.

Blinding streaks of white light burst forth as the magnificent barrier began to warp, but in the end, it managed to stay intact. However, the pressure from the attack managed to collapse the more fragile buildings.

As one might expect, the huge phoenix was the demonform of the silver-robed woman from before. Her heart still boiled with rage over having the low-grade Ice Sea Demons slaughtered under the effects of the Sea Calming Bell.

As a heavenly ice-attributed spirit beast, she could ignore the effects of the outer grand formation formed from glacial mist and make her way directly to the city of ice, allowing to wreak havoc directly on North Night Valley’s defensive restrictions.

Although her first strike succeeded and threw the cultivators on the mountain into a panic, it also alerted the high-grade cultivators to react.

A ring of white light flashed from the demon bird’s body. Just as it was condensing another glacier at its claws, a silver streak and a ball of white light flew out from the barrier below, Bai Yaoyi and the grey-haired old man.

But before they drew close, Bai Yaoyi let out a yelp and sent two silver swords forward. As for the grey-haired old man, with a sullen expression he grasped his hands together and summoned a treasure from his sleeve. It expanded in front of him to reveal a translucent jade bottle.

The bottle flickered with light and rumbling booms sounded from it.

When the ice phoenix saw this, her pair of green eyes glinted and waved her wings, condensing a dozen thirty-meter-long ice spears in an instant and launching them at the two cultivators.

The old man snorted. White light formed from his hands and he shook the jade bottle in his hand. The bottle spouted a dozen clouds of black and white light that strangely tangled with the spears as soon as they appeared.

In a profound display, the ice spears rapidly shrunk upon contact with the light, soon turning them into the size of arrows before the light was sucked back into the jade bottle.

When the ice phoenix saw this, she blurred from sight and summoned a giant snowstorm in her place. It completely submerged their surroundings.

Unwilling to show any weakness, light brightly s.h.i.+ned from Bai Yaoyi and the grey-haired old man as they met the storm head-on.

Thunderous explosions boomed from above the top of the giant mountain. The twinkles of light leaked out from the dense snowstorm. But strangely enough, no other elders headed out to a.s.sist the two cultivators. If they weren’t occupied with controlling the two spell formations, they were likely fighting other high-grade demon beasts.

...

As the battle fully unfolded outside, Han Li and the others inside Spiritvoid Hall were able to sense the pressure of the battles and they looked at each other in dismay.

Arctic Dragon glanced at the exit and a solemn expression appeared on his face.

With a heavy voice, Arctic Dragon said, “It seems the demons have started their attack in earnest. As such, we won’t be opening the cavern opening, or we will be disturbed when the time comes and our efforts will become wasted. Since I planned on having you all help us deal with these demons, I don’t have the slightest intention of harming you.”

The monk frowned and slowly said, “Brother Arctic Dragon’s words are reasonable, but if we succeed in breaking through your bottleneck, your cultivation will rapidly increase but we will left exhausted. Being sealed underground for such a long time has left us a bit restless. As the saying goes, wise men make preparations for possible danger. We all have some degree of friends.h.i.+p with your palace, but your words aren’t enough for us. Are we supposed to trust our lives with you so easily?”

Arctic Dragon replied with a helpless tone, “It is no wonder you are all so careful. If I were in your position, I would feel the same. Is there anything I can do to be more accommodating?”

A glint flashed from the grey-robed monk’s eyes and he asked, “How about you hand over the Celestial Blue Cauldron to us three outsiders for the time being? We’ll return it to you when the time comes, of course. And this way, we’ll be able to focus on helping you wholeheartedly.”

When Han Li and the old woman heard this, they were startled but soon understood what he meant.

“Yes, that will do!” Han Li readily agreed.

The old woman took a moment of thought before eventually nodding.

When the azure-robed middle-aged man heard this, he shook his head, “Master Mojiu, isn’t this too much? You should understand the origins of the Celestial Blue Cauldron. It is the magic tool dedicated to cultivating our sect’s Celestial Ice Flames. How could we allow it to be taken by others?”

The mink’s kindly expression “We are only holding it for a short time. When we leave here, we will return it with thanks. We have no intention of keeping it. Please think it over, Fellow Daoist Ouyang!”

“But...”

Just as the middle-aged man was about to continue, Arctic Dragon cut him off, “Enough, Junior Martial Brother Ouyang, Master Mojiu’s words hold reason. I agree to this condition, but which of the three will hold the cauldron?” When he asked this question, he took a long look at Han Li, then taking a quick glance at the other two.

The monk and the old woman both grew quiet.

The old woman eventually broke the silence, “Since Master Mojiu raised the condition, he should be the one to safeguard it! I believe he’s always been a trustworthy individual.

Han Li narrowed his eyes as thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning. He eventually nodded in agreement.

“With your trust, I will take the cauldron into my care,” the monk solemnly agreed.

With the three having come to a decision, Arctic Dragon wasted no time and pointed to the cauldron high in the air. It spun as it made its way down with its flames extinguished.

The monk reacted instantly, releasing green mist from his sleeve. It wrapped around the cauldron and would soon restrain it, serving as a temporary shackle.

Although the Celestial Ice Flames could emerge from the cauldron, he had nothing to fear as his own body harbored a flame of extreme cold.

When Han Li saw this, he shot over to the pillar of purple light in a streak of light. After some close observation, he gained a near-complete understanding of this technique.

However, he would need to see the technique used to completion in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of it.

That was why Han Li was willing to stay sealed inside the cave despite his misgivings. He was also confident in his own exceptional abilities and felt he didn’t have much to fear. Additionally, Arctic Dragon would have unstable cultivation even if he managed to succeed; there would be time before he could prove a threat.

Besides, Deity Transformation-stage cultivators were restricted in the mortal realm. Before she left for the Spirit Realm, Ling Long left behind a jade slip that dispelled many of his fears of these mysterious cultivators.

And just to be safe, Han Li mentally commanded the Great Yin Trueflame to stealthily enter the spell formation and hit itself under a stone. It succeeded in being undetected.

The others each flew up to their respective pillars in the formation.

Arctic Dragon then set forth, activating the spell formation once more with flicks of his fingers.

Bright mist suddenly filled the air around them and a barrier appeared around them once more, blocking the cavern’s white storms.

Han Li blinked and carefully looked around him. Although the activated restrictions were the same as before, there were clear differences in their spiritual fluctuations. As an accomplished scholar in spell formation, he discovered a few of its inner workings as he silently a.n.a.lyzed them.

“Let us start! Hehe, if this truly succeeds, I won’t forget your kindness!” Arctic Dragon said with a deep laugh. He held his hands in an incantation gesture and blue flames quickly ignited from his body, soon turning into the deep blue color of a clear ocean. The sight was completely entrancing.

When the old woman saw this, she muttered with a tone of awe, “To think you refined the Celestial Ice Flames to this degree. I fear you’ve already reached the highest purity of glacial flames allowed in our mortal realm.

‘Those are glacial flames refined to their utmost limit?’ Han Li’s heart stirred and he took a deeper glance at Arctic Dragon.

At that moment, the others began to sit down on their respective pillars and huge light lotuses slowly wrapped around them.

Han Li lightly smiled and sat down as well, grasping his hand in an incantation gesture.

Glacial flames spurt forth simultaneous from all the cultivators, but before any of them urged them on, the cultivators let out series of soft incantations.

As their chanting continued, the lotuses grew, multiplying their size in an instant. The flames burning from the cultivators’ bodies spread to the lotuses, lighting them up in a dazzling display.

Han Li simply felt a trace of a burning sensation from his body, lasting only for an instant as his body drowned in the Purple Apex Flames like a small sun.