Han Li had already examined the crimson talismans plastered to the surface of the box; they were nothing special and were only used to repress the aura of the item inside the box.
On top of that, he had already formulated a plan to remove these talismans.
For others, this would most likely prove to be quite a troublesome prospect, but he possessed several abilities that were extremely effective against restrictions.
Thus, after securing his room with a series of light barriers, Han Li tossed the jade box into the air, where it hovered motionlessly at his behest.
He then reached out with a pristine white hand toward the jade box while the Divine Essencefused Light barrier being emitted by the miniature mountain became noticeably denser. At the same time, five white skulls emerged from his fingertips, all of which swelled in size before hurtling toward the jade box.
"Break!"
Han Li issued a command as he pointed at the five skulls, and all of them opened their mouths in unison to expel a wave of five-colored glacial flames that swept up the jade box within.
An astonishing scene then ensued.
As the five-colored glacial flames converged toward the box, the crimson talismans detached themselves from the box's lid of their own accord.
The talismans should've been quite light and spritely, but due to the effects of the five-colored glacial flames, they were moving a lot more slowly than they normally would, and Han Li was able to clearly see the process through which they were separating from the box.
This brief period of time was enough for Han Li to assess all of the changes taking place within the box.
All of a sudden, his expression darkened, and the five-colored glacial flames surging around the jade box transformed into a massive five-colored hand, which forcibly removed the lid on the box.
A burst of extremely unstable yet powerful fluctuations erupted from the box into the air, following which a golden ball of light shot forth, only to be caught in and completely immobilized by the five-colored hand.
Right at this moment, a resounding thump rang out as a red light formation surfaced around the jade box. The formation then swelled and shrank, looking as if it were about to explode.
Han Li glanced at the light formation, and the terrifying spiritual power imbued within it was quite harrowing even to him.
Thus, he immediately made a hand seal, and the massive five-colored hand locked firmly around the golden and silver ball of light before whizzing toward the corner as a streak of five-colored light. At the same time, the Divine Essencefused Light in the nearby area suddenly tightened to form a dense grey pillar of light that trapped the light formation within.
In the next instant, the light formation exploded, and a white halo immediately appeared within the pillar of light.
The pillar of light then began to tremor violently as a series of strange ripples appeared over its surface, looking as if it were going to be vanquished at any moment by the force of the explosion.
Han Li's eyes narrowed as he harrumphed coldly, and he opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames.
The fireball transformed into a silver Fire Raven that rushed into the grey pillar of light in a flash before plunging headfirst into the halo of white light.
A bizarre turn of events then unfolded. The violent fluctuations that resembled an erupting volcano within the white halo of light suddenly receded, and at the same time, the halo of light shrank drastically at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.
Within just the span of a few breaths, it had disappeared completely, and in its place was the silver Fire Raven.
The bird had swelled to several times its original size, and it was in the process of sucking one final wisp of white light into its stomach.
Han Li finally heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
He waved a hand, and the silver Fire Raven spread its wings before flying back to him, disappearing into his body in a flash.
Meanwhile, the five white skulls also vanished amid a string of dull thumps.
At the same time, the five-colored hand in the air appeared above his hand, then relaxed its fingers to release that ball of golden and silver light.
Han Li swept a sleeve upward, and a swath of azure light swept forth to draw the golden ball of light into his grasp. As he clenched his fingers around it, the golden and silver light dimmed to reveal the object within.
He held his hand up to his face, then focused his gaze to conduct a more thorough inspection.
There was an antiquated badge that appeared to be around half a foot in length within the spiritual light.
One side was shimmering with golden light while the other glowed with silver light, and the surfaces of the badge were riddled with profound ripples. At the same time, there was an unidentifiable ancient symbol carved onto each side of the badge.
Even with Han Li's vast wealth of knowledge in foreign languages, he was still completely unable to figure out from which language these symbols originated.
Han Li stroked the surface of the badge gently with his finger, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
To think that the item that the big-headed being had held in such high regard was something like this.
Even though the badge was shimmering with spiritual light, there were some signs of wear and tear around its edges, indicating that it was definitely quite an old item. Furthermore, the material used to forge the badge was also quite strange. One side was frosty cold to the touch while the other side was scorching hot, indicating that it seemed to possess both ice and fire attributes at the same time.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon seeing this. However, as he swept a finger over one of the ancient symbols, something unexpected happened.
A wisp of white light suddenly emerged from within the badge, and it was as thin as a strand of fine silk, but it was extremely fast and disappeared in a flash.
A cold sensation shot through his palm, followed by a faint hint of stabbing pain. His hand then became a little a moist and clammy, and in his bewilderment, Han Li reflexively tossed the badge into the air, where it hovered motionlessly above his head.
He then brought his palm up to his face to find that there was a gash that was several inches long on his palm. The gash was bleeding profusely, and it seemed that he wouldn't be able to immediately stop the bleeding.
With his powerful body in conjunction with the fact that this hand had cultivated the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, it was quite incredible that a thin white thread could inflict such a nasty gash onto his palm.
Despite the astonishment in his heart, Han Li immediately began to circulate his magic power within his body. Specks of white light began to emanate from the gash, following which it was fully healed in just a few moments.
After that, he glanced up at the strange badge overhead with intrigue and bewilderment in his eyes.
At this moment, brilliant golden and silver light were radiating from the badge, and the traces of blood on it were rapidly vanishing.
No, they weren't vanishing; they were being absorbed by the badge!
Han Li's lips twitched, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the badge suddenly let loose a long cry akin to that of a dragon's roar. Immediately thereafter, a pillar of golden and silver light erupted into the air, completely disregarding the Divine Essencefused Light and the restrictive light barriers that he'd set up earlier, then puncturing the roof and climbing straight into the heavens.
Han Li's expression instantly darkened significantly upon seeing this. He immediately waved a sleeve through the air, and a swath of azure light swept forth from within as he attempted to recover the badge.
However, an incredible turn of events then unfolded!
Even as the azure light swept toward the badge, it completely refused to budge, and it only continued to blast a pillar of golden and silver light into the sky.
Han Li's heart sank as a wry smile appeared on his face.
With the massive commotion that this badge was causing, there was no way that what he was doing would go by unnoticed. It wouldn't take long before someone came to investigate what was going on.
With that in mind, a series of thoughts flashed rapidly through Han Li's mind, and he immediately sprang into action.
Specks of light of different colors instantly appeared out of thin air at his behest, and he instantly stowed away the miniature black mountain as well as the formation plates he'd set up earlier.
He then paused before making his way toward a corner of the room, where he sat down expressionlessly in a cross-legged manner, paying no further heed to the badge that was hovering in mid-air.
A short while alter, light flashed from the four walls and the door of the room at the same time, following which a few black-armored warriors of Cloud City emerged in the room in a wraith-like manner.
All of them faltered slightly at the sight of the badge that was causing such a big commotion, then turned to Han Li in unison with a cold look in their eyes.
However, their expressions then changed slightly after verifying Han Li's cultivation base with their spiritual sense to find that he was far more powerful than them.
The leader of the armored warrior adopted a slightly more benevolent expression as he asked, "Is that your treasure? Are you not aware that activating powerful treasures and using too much spiritual power is prohibited in Cloud City?"
Seeing as Han Li's cultivation base was far superior to theirs, they didn't dare to show him any disrespect before figuring out what was going on.
"I encountered some issues while refining this treasure, but I'll sort things out right away." Han Li was quite calm and collected, and he made a grabbing motion toward the badge from afar as he spoke.
A massive translucent hand instantly appeared in the air before grabbing down toward the badge.
However, despite Han Li's best efforts to drag the badge down toward him, it refused to move so much as a single inch, as if it were completely locked in space somehow.
Confused expressions appeared on the faces of the armored warriors in the room upon seeing this, and Han Li's lips also twitched in response to this situation.
He took a deep breath, and just as he was about to exert more force on the badge, an indifferent male voice suddenly sounded from outside the room.
"Don't bother! The Vast Glacial Badge has already been activated by you in advance, and it's locked onto a spatial position, so it won't move no matter what you do to it unless you shatter all of the space in a radius of 1,000 feet."
As soon as the voice trailed off, spatial fluctuations rippled throughout the room, and an indistinct humanoid figure emerged out of thin air.
All of the armored warriors' expressions changed upon seeing this humanoid figure, and they bowed in unison as their leader greeted in a respectful manner, "The members of the 73rd enforcement squad pays their respects to Elder Bai!"
The humanoid figure was a man in a brocade robe who appeared to be quite young, but both his hair and beard were snowy white in color.
"There's no mistaking it; this is indeed a Vast Glacial Badge. Tsk tsk, I'd thought that all of these badges had fallen into the hands of the Jiao Chi Race, but who would've thought that there'd be one here?" In contrast with his snowy white hair and beard, the man had a pair of thick black eyebrows. There was an elated expression on his square face, and he paid no heed to anyone else as he stared up at the shimmering golden and silver badge hovering in mid-air.
