Han Li rustled a sleeve and the other small blue cauldron also shot forth before expanding drastically as it flew through the air. The coffin then hovered toward the air above the massive formation at Han Li's behest, only stopping after reaching an altitude of over 200 feet.
Silver light flashed and the humanoid puppet appeared, standing on one corner of the cauldron in a completely stationary manner.
Han Li nodded upon seeing this before abruptly patting one of the spirit beast pouches hanging from his waist. A gust of glacial wind was immediately swept up, following which 12 four-winged centipedes emerged from within the pouch, each of which was several feet in length.
These were none other than his 12 Six-Winged Frost Centipedes.
As soon as these centipedes appeared, they immediately began to blast glacial winds out of their mouths, sending swaths of white mist rising high into the air. The centipedes then obscured themselves within this white mist before splitting up and flying to all corners of the cage of light.
After setting up all of these measures, Han Li was feeling a lot more assured.
However, he still didn't dare to grow complacent as he carefully examined the surrounding formation again. After verifying that there were no issues, he stood at a certain point within the formation and made a hand seal, upon which a layer of purple flames abruptly appeared over his body. He then slowly sank into the ground as if he were nothing more than an illusionary mirage, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye.
As such, the only things left within the massive cage of light were the two cauldrons, the completely stationary humanoid puppet, and the 12 clouds of fluttering white mist.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already reached several hundred feet deep into the ground, and was currently situated within a vast expanse of scorching crimson lava.
The temperatures here could melt a human away into nothingness in a matter of seconds, yet Han Li remained completely unaffected in his cocoon of Purple Apex Flames. However, as the glacial powers of his flames intertwined with the scorching lava, an incessant burst of rumbling akin to that of relentless thunderclaps erupted nearby, and that was rather annoying to listen to.
It wasn't that Han Li didn't want to switch over to the barrier manifested by his fire dragon pillars; a fire-attribute barrier would naturally be able to fuse as one with the surrounding lava quite easily. However, having to control the temperatures within the barrier under such intense heat would result in excessive magic power expenditure, so it was much more efficient to use his glacial flames instead. As such, Han Li wasn't going to summon that barrier prior to encountering the Puresun Flame Essence.
Even though he had unleashed his spiritual sense to its very maximal extent, the fact that he was submerged in lava greatly inhibited his detection radius, making it impossible for him to sense anything beyond a radius of around 1,000 feet.
Han Li couldn't help but heave a faint sight upon making this observation.
It was no wonder that Master Arctic Dragon had failed on so many occasions to obtain the Puresun Flame Essence, even though he knew that it was right in this volcano, to the extent that he had completely given up on trying to procure the flame essence altogether.
Under such an environment, it was quite a stretch to ask even a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator to capture a wisp of Puresun Flame Essence, which already possessed a certain degree of spiritual nature. Only a Deity Transformation cultivator would have a chance of accomplishing this feat.
Even though he had already made extensive preparations in advance, he was still quite unsure whether he would actually secure the flame essence.
All of a sudden, Han Li patted the Greatyin Fire Raven, which was still perched on his shoulder. The Fire Raven spread its wings and flew out of the purple flame barrier, instantly disappearing into the lava up ahead.
The entire process was completely soundless, and the Fire Raven glided through the lava without any impediment, nor did it seem to be affected by the scorching temperatures of the lava at all.
Han Li was initially a little speechless upon seeing this, following which a sense of ecstasy welled up in his heart.
The Greatyin True Flame was one of the most powerful Yin-attribute existences in the human world, and it seemed to be able to thrive even in lava. As one of the three true spirit flames, it appeared that there had to be some secrets hidden within the Greatyin True Flame waiting to be uncovered. If he had the opportunity to do so in the future, he would really have to conduct some thorough research into these flames. The Greatyin True Flame was born in extreme glacial conditions, while the Puresun Flame Essence was born in extreme heat. Yin and Yang attracted one another like opposite magnetic pols, so if the Puresun Flame Essence was nearby, then it would be forcibly drawn to Han Li by his Greatyin Fire Raven.
With that in mind, Han Li followed along behind the Fire Raven from a long distance away, roaming throughout the lava with this volcanic crater as the center where he commenced his search.
Several days passed by, and Han Li had almost searched the entirety of this area, which spanned a radius of over 5,000 kilometers. In particular, he made sure to conduct thorough searches in the locations where Master Arctic Dragon had once made sightings of the Puresun Flame Essence, but much to his dismay, his search remained completely fruitless.
As such, Han Li was forced to expand the scope of his search, but the Puresun Flame Essence continued to elude him, as if it didn't even exist here.
A month later, Han Li was searching through a location tens of thousands of kilometers away from the volcanic crater. His face remained completely expressionless, but he was truly starting to become rather impatient.
He was traversing through scorching lava day after day, seeing only vast expanses of crimson everywhere he looked. Furthermore, he had to constantly unleash his spiritual sense to its maximal extent during this process, expending a vast amount of magic power. Anyone would find this to be unbearable if they were in Han Li's shoes.
Just as Han Li was contemplating whether it was time to return to the surface in order to replenish his spiritual power again, his expression suddenly changed and a hint of surprise and elation appeared in his eyes.
He immediately patted a storage pouch hanging from his waist, and the small black vial containing the Unbroken Cinque Devils was immediately summoned. The vial tipped itself over in the lava before releasing the five devils.
The five devils were clearly rather uncomfortable in the lava, but the greyish-white devilish Qi swirling around their bodies was able to keep the scorching temperatures at bay.
Han Li began to chant something, and the five devils transformed into ghostly heads, disappearing into the lava in different directions.
Han Li then rustled his sleeve again to release his fire dragon pillars, and the crimson light barrier appeared around him. At the same time, his body swayed before becoming blurry and indistinct, completely camouflaging himself in the surrounding lava in the end.
As such, the entire place had fallen completely silent aside from the occasional sound of flowing lava.
Around 10 minutes later, a streak of crimson light flashed and the Greatyin Fire Raven emerged from the lava before diving headfirst into the lava on another side.
Almost at the exact same moment, the lava nearby began to surge and tumble violently, and its temperature spiked drastically by more than twofold. At the same time, silver light flashed, and something sped past in hot pursuit behind the Greatyin Fire Raven.
As the silver light disappeared, the surrounding lava settled back into its original state, but the scorching temperatures refused to let up. Right at this moment, red light flashed and Han Li emerged nearby in his crimson light barrier. He wore an elated look on his face as he gave chase in the direction that the silver light had sped away toward.
As such, the three pursued one another in direct succession, covering a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers within a few hours, taking them close to the volcanic crater, where the formation had been set up earlier.
However, trouble suddenly struck at this point.
The Greatyin Fire Raven's speed and dexterity remained completely unaffected by the lava around it, but it was clearly slightly slower than the ball of silver light pursuing it. After such an extensive chase, the silver light finally caught up to it when they were still close to 10 kilometers away from the volcanic crater.
The silver light abruptly pounced onto the Greatyin Fire Raven, and the crimson and silver lights intertwined with one another. Meanwhile, Han Li was too scared to approach ball of silver light in fear that he would startle it away, but through his spiritual sense connection with the Greatyin Fire Raven, he was finally able to catch a clear glimpse of this ball of silver light.
It turned out that this was a miniature pegasus only around a few inches in size. Its entire body was a pristine white color, yet its wings were of a shimmering silver hue.
As soon as the pegasus caught up to the Greatyin Fire Raven, it immediately summoned countless silver flame flowers on the surface of its wings. The pegasus that was rushing toward the Greatyin Fire Raven was naturally none other than the true spirit flame manifested by the Puresun Flame Essence.
When the Greatyin Fire Raven had first been born, it had been extremely feeble, which was why Han Li was able to easily subdue and capture it. However, after devouring an immeasurable amount of Myriad Year Glacial Qi in the Profound Jade Cave of the North Night Palace, it had become a lot more powerful.
As such, it's power was actually quite comparable to the Puresun Flame Essence.
However, the miniature white pegasus was able to borrow on the boundless power of the lava around it, thereby giving it a distinct advantage. In contrast, the Greatyin Fire Raven had to expend a portion of its spiritual power to ward off the scorching temperatures of the lava, thereby placing it at a further disadvantage. As such, it was forced firmly onto the back foot after just a few exchanges.
Han Li's brows furrowed upon making this observation through his spiritual sense connection.
However, neither he nor the five devils could assist the Greatyin Fire Raven now as that would only startle the Puresun Flame Essence. From Master Arctic Dragon's memories, he had gleaned that the Puresun Flame Essence was an extremely cautious existence, and it would run away at the first sign of any potential danger. Furthermore, its flame movement techniques were extremely profound, allowing it to traverse through the lava in a virtually undetectable manner. As such, if it were allowed to get away, then there was no chance for Han Li to chase it down again.
If the Puresun Flame Essence were to be startled once, Han Li wasn't sure if using the Greatyin Fire Raven as bait would work a second time.
As such, even though the Fire Raven was clearly struggling in its battle, he didn't dare to intervene, yet his mind was racing for a potential course of action that he could take.
All of a sudden, an idea occurred to him. He immediately made a hand seal before opening his mouth to expel a white bead. It was none other than that Snow Crystal Pearl that the Purple Apex Flames had been nurturing.
Han Li cast a few incantation seals onto the pearl, following which it shot forth as a streak of white light.
The Snow Crystal Pearl reached the battlefield between the pegasus and the Greatyin Fire Raven in the blink of an eye.
The pearl then descended toward the two combatants.
The pegasus was immediately startled by its approach, and it flapped his little wings, abruptly vanishing amid a ball of silver flames. In the next instant, it appeared over 200 feet away, staring at the pearl with bewilderment in its eyes.
However, the Greatyin Fire Raven had no intention of evading the pearl. Instead, it took this opportunity to pounce on the pearl before swallowing it, upon which brilliant crimson light erupted from its body.
After doing that, the Fire Raven immediately continued to flee into the distance without any hesitation.
The pegasus faltered slightly upon seeing this. It carefully examined its surroundings and after determining that there was nothing for it to fear, it finally spread its wings and gave chase once again.
However, with the assistance of the power of the Purple Apex Flames stored within that Snow Crystal Pearl, the Greatyin Fire Raven was flying far more quickly than it was previously capable of, and the pegasus was unable to chase it down for the time being.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them had reached the massive volcanic crater, following which the Greatyin Fire Raven immediately shot upward toward the surface.
