In the face of such a perilous situation, Master Artic Dragon unleashed some sort of body-refinement technique, allowing him to twist his neck aside just as the Demon Essence Dagger was about to embed itself into his head. As a result, his neck elongated over a foot like the neck of a monster, presenting a very bizarre sight to behold.
Black light flashed past and the flying dagger sliced open through Master Arctic Dragon's neck, sending his head tumbling to the ground.
The golden armor materialized over his body and that blue ice wyrm in the distance both disappeared in the blink of an eye.
A smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. However, the smile had only surfaced for a split second before it abruptly stiffened.
This was because a burst of golden light had suddenly erupted from the severed head, enveloping the entire head. It spun on the spot before hurtling toward the Qilin silhouette overhead.
Han Li was naturally rather surprised to see something so peculiar. However, he quickly understood what was happening.
His opponent's Nascent Soul was hidden within his head!
Han Li's expression darkened as a layer of green light surfaced over his body. At the same time, he uttered a single word: "break"!
His voice wasn't very loud but when it traveled into the severed head's ears, it felt as if its spiritual sense had been viciously stabbed by a sharp spike, resulting in a burst of excruciating pain.
A bloodcurdling howl immediately escaped from the head's mouth as blood began to flow from its ears and nose.
Without his body's support, Master Arctic Dragon was in a severely debilitated state and in the face of a full-power strike from Han Li's spiritual spike, he was completely no match.
His head wobbled in the air as the blue flames surrounding it wavered unsteadily.
Right at this moment, the black dagger appeared again above Master Arctic Dragon's head.
The dagger then disappeared right as an expression of shock and horror surfaced on the head. In the next instant, it appeared on the other side of the head.
A thin bloody gash appeared at the center of the head's face, and it was becoming wider and wider.
Almost at the exact same time, a thunderclap erupted as Han Li emerged several tens of feet away from the head amid a silver arc of light. He then immediately rubbed his hands together before raising them in unison.
More loud thunderclaps rang out as a massive net of lightning descended from above.
The head was split in half down the middle and a ball of blue light enveloped Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul, which came flying out from within.
The Nascent Soul opened its small mouth and a blue flying sword shot forth.
The flying sword expanded drastically in size, transforming into a sword that was roughly 10 feet in length before slashing toward the golden net without any reservation.
Before the huge sword had even struck, the astonishing spiritual pressure emanating from the sword was already enough to make the golden net tremor unsteadily.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he injected more magic power into the net, making the golden arcs of lightning even bulkier.
Following a resounding boom, the blue and golden lights clashed. As expected, the huge blue sword was extremely powerful; it was able to force a gash into the golden net after a few violent slashes.
Even though the gash was only a foot or so in size, it was more than enough for the Nascent Soul to fit through.
The Nascent Soul made a hand seal, upon which its body abruptly disappeared.
Over 100 feet away from the golden net, blue light flashed as the Nascent Soul reappeared. It was able to unleash a teleportation technique, saving itself in the nick of time.
A mixture of lingering fear and relief appeared on the Nascent Soul's face and it waved its soft little hand, gesturing toward the huge sword behind it.
The blue flying sword immediately shrank as it attempted to fly out from the gash it had just created.
A cold look surfaced in Han Li's eyes as he harrumphed and made a hand seal. Loud thunderclaps erupted once again from the nearby golden net and at the same time, the net contracted inward, instantly mending the gash that had just appeared. Countless golden arcs of lightning then converged toward the blue flying sword, layer after layer, seemingly with no end in sight.
The flying sword had been refined by Master Arctic Dragon for many years so its might far exceeded that of a normal treasure, but it was still struggling to cope in the face of so many golden arcs of lightning. The spiritual light on its surface dimmed and brightened erratically before it was finally completely inundated under golden light.
Han Li then waved a hand through the air and the Heavenvoid Cauldron appeared before him. A burst of green threads shot forth from the cauldron under Han Li's command, rushing toward the Nascent Soul of Master Arctic Dragon, which was situated over 100 feet away.
Master Arctic Dragon was desperately trying to recover his magic treasure when his heart jolted with shock at the sight of the oncoming green threads. He cast a reluctant glance toward the flying sword, but could only grit his teeth as blue light flashed around his body, causing him to disappear again.
In the next instant, the Nascent Soul appeared beside the Celestial Blue Cauldron on the other side. This time, it turned rather hesitantly toward the Qilin silhouette, which was located on the spot where he had originally stood.
Even though his Celestial Technique had been disrupted and his physical body had been destroyed, the Profound Jade badge within the Qilin was still flashing with spiritual light, having been completely unaffected by what was befalling him.
However, in the next instant, a green figure appeared beside the Qilin silhouette, glaring directly at the Nascent Soul with cold expressionless eyes.
Their eyes met and Master Arctic Dragon shivered as his heart sank. The final shred of hope in his heart had been eradicated and his Nascent Soul immediately squirmed into the cauldron without any hesitation. The cauldron then began to emit a strange cry as it suddenly rose into the air by itself. It flashed several times in quick succession and appeared at the opening of the cave. The green threads were completely unable to keep up with the consecutive teleportation techniques the Nascent Soul had unleashed, and they dissipated in the process.
Han Li had already trapped the flying sword within his Divine Devilbane Lightning. He turned his attention toward the Nascent Soul and his lips twitched slightly as a clap of thunder rang out from his back. He then transformed into a silver arc of light, heading directly toward the Nascent Soul.
Master Arctic Dragon naturally wasn't going to stand still and wait for Han Li to hunt him down. He manipulated the cauldron to transform into a ball of blue light before flying high into the air. After two more instances of teleportation, it was close to the entrance. Meanwhile, Han Li was still around 700 to 800 feet behind him.
Master Arctic Dragon was quite relieved to see this and just as he was about to teleport again, a few strands of glacial light suddenly swept toward the cauldron from the nearby Profound Jade ore.
Master Arctic Dragon didn't pay much heed to this glacial Qi. The blue flames on the small cauldron burned slightly more fiercely in an attempt to keep the glacial Qi at bay.
However, right at this moment, a startling and abrupt change struck!
The wisps of Profound Jade's glacial Qi changed colors in the blink of an eye, transforming into crimson flames in a split second. The crimson flames then merged right into the Celestial Ice Flames on the surface of the cauldron as if there were nothing there. The crimson flames flashed and entered cauldron as fast as lightning.
The Celestial Blue Cauldron shuddered, following a cry of shock and rage belonging to Master Arctic Dragon erupted from within. The blue and crimson flames immediately surfaced on the cauldron before intertwining with one another in a series of loud explosions.
Spiritual light erupted from the cauldron and it expanded drastically as it shuddered, transforming into a cauldron several feet in size in the blink of an eye.
Half of the cauldron was dominated by blue flames while the other half was under siege from crimson flames.
Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul appeared within the blue flames.
It turned to face the crimson flames with an expression of shock and fury on its face.
Within the crimson flames, a Fire Raven roughly the size of a fist emerged. It let loose a few low cries and seemed to be rather carefree and relaxed.
In a life-and-death situation like this, Master Arctic Dragon couldn't afford to waste time by engaging in a prolonged battle. A sharp cry escaped from the Nascent Soul's mouth as blue flames swept viciously toward the Fire Raven. The latter flapped a wing nonchalantly, and the crimson flames around its body also swept forth.
The blue and crimson flames clashed amid a flurry of scintillating light and resounding booms, resulting in an extremely intense battle!
The Fire Raven was none other than a manifestation of that wisp of Greatyin True Flame.
The wisp of true flame had already entered the sentient stage and had been summoned by Han Li using a formation spell, before lying in ambush at the opening of the cave. It used the Profound Jade's glacial Qi that it had absorbed during the past few days as a decoy before launching a surprise attack and sure enough, the plan worked to perfection.
There wasn't enough Greatyin True Flame to instantly wrest control over the cauldron from Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul, but it was able to prevent the cauldron from making its escape.
Right at this moment, Han Li unleashed his lightning movement technique several times in quick succession, which allowed him to get close to the cauldron in the blink of an eye at the expense of a heightened magic power expenditure. A panicked expression appeared on the face of the Nascent Soul as it realized that it would be unable to wrest back the Celestial Blue Cauldron in a short time.
All of a sudden, a ball of blue light shot forth from the cauldron, fleeing high into the air. The Nascent Soul had relinquished the cauldron and was running for its life.
A peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. He then immediately raised a hand to summon a small green ruler.
Han Li recited a chant in a low voice and at the same time, seven-colored Buddhist light shimmered within his hands. Brilliant green light radiated from the small green ruler and it tremored slightly before disappearing from his hand. In the next instant, it appeared in the air directly above Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul was stunned to see this and it made a hand seal in an attempt to teleport away.
However, the green ruler overhead tremored slightly, and a silver lotus flower with a diameter comparable to that of a bowl emerged. The lotus began to spin and Buddhist chants rang out. At the same time, a seven-colored film of light emanated from the lotus flower.
Master Arctic Dragon could sense his true essence congeal as his Nascent Soul was struck by the Buddhist light, making it extremely sluggish and immobile.
The Nascent Soul's face immediately paled.
Silver arcs of lightning flashed in the air above as Han Li emerged, looking down with a cold expression.
This green ruler was naturally the Eight Spirit Ruler than Han Li had just obtained recently.
Even though he had only successfully cultivated the first layer of the Artifact Imprint Technique, he was still able to unleash astonishing power with it. In terms of pure offensive might alone, it was even superior to the Heavenvoid Cauldron.
Of course, he was only able to control a late-Nascent Soul cultivator so easily mostly because the latter had been reduced to a Nascent Soul state. Furthermore, he had already expended most of his magic power trying to unleash a secret technique to gain control over the glacial Qi within the Profound Jade Cave, thereby debilitating him even further.
Otherwise, it would not be so easy to capture the Nascent Soul of a late-Nascent Soul cultivator.
After using the Eight Spirit Ruler to capture the Nascent Soul, Han Li didn't waste any time with words as he immediately raised a hand and spread open his fingers.
Golden light flashed over his fingertips as low rumbling thunderclaps erupted. Five arcs of lightning shot forth, transforming into small golden serpents around the same thickness as human thumbs. They sank their fangs into the Nascent Soul trapped within the Buddhist light before transforming again into golden chains, binding the Nascent Soul securely to the spot.
Han Li didn't stop there. He whipped out several restriction talismans from his sleeve, upon which restrictive spiritual light of several different colors began to flash on the Nascent Soul's body.
Han Li patted his storage pouch and flipped over his palm to reveal a dozen or so silver needles in his hand.
Streaks of silver light flashed through the air as the silver needles pierced into various vital regions on the Nascent Soul's body.
Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul immediately began to spasm uncontrollably as the light in its eyes dimmed.
Only after seeing this was Han Li convinced that his work had been done. He clapped his hands together and a half-smile appeared on his face.
