In the air above a certain unknown canyon within a mountain range, there was an ordinary-looking white cloud drifting in a casual manner.
Hidden within the cloud were two furry Rong beings, and they were discussing something quietly among themselves. "Brother Xuan, it's already been over a day since those four left and they still haven't returned; could it be that something's happened to them?" a Rong being with an azure mark on his forehead said in a concerned manner.
"What could possibly have happened to them? The two Heavenly Cloud beings they were pursuing were both completely spent, and we sent four people after them; nothing could possibly go wrong. It's most likely the case that those two Heavenly Cloud beings burned their latent potential to unleash some kind of secret techniques to delay their inevitable demise," the other crimson armored Rong being replied in a nonchalant manner.
"It is indeed true that those two Heavenly Cloud beings are adept in some remarkable movement techniques. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to escape in the first place," the first Rong being replied with a nod, seemingly having been convinced.
"It really is quite a surprise that the restriction around the final part of the golden seal text cultivation art requires multiple Vast Glacial Badges to break. Looks like we have no choice but to wait for more of our brethren to get here. I wonder if two Vast Glacial Badges will even be enough; perhaps even three or four will be required. If that's the case, then we'll only be able to obtain an incomplete cultivation art," the armored Rong being sighed.
"The restriction guarding the final part of the cultivation art is vastly different from all of the previous restrictions, so it's clearly the most important part. If we're unable to secure this final part, then it'll most likely be very difficult for us to successfully cultivate it. It's a pity that none of us know how to read golden seal text. Otherwise, we'd be able to read the previous parts to give ourselves an idea of what this cultivation art involves." A forlorn look appeared on the first Rong being's face.
"Seeing as this is a golden seal text cultivation art, we certainly can't just give up on it without doing everything we can. The problem is that even the closest group of our brethren are around four or five days away, and if we need to gather more Vast Glacial Badges, then we may even have to spend several months here. In that case, our plans to go into seclusion here to try and make a breakthrough would be completely thrown into disarray," the armored Rong being said as his expression darkened slightly.
"That is indeed rather troublesome. However, if this golden seal text cultivation art really does prove to be an extremely powerful one, then perhaps it'll even be able to benefit our entire race. Compared to that, this is a worthy sacrifice," the first Rong being said in a slow voice as he furrowed his brows slightly.
"That may be the case, but entering the Vast Glacial Realm is a brilliant opportunity for us to progress to the holy grade; I don't want to pass up this opportunity," the armored Rong being sighed.
"There's no use talking about that now. We can only hope that the other groups will receive our message and arrive with their Vast Glacial Badges as quickly as possible. Now that I think about it, it's quite extraordinary how all of the races had always thought that Vast Glacial Badges were only keys to access the Vast Glacial Realm; who would've thought that they would be so useful in breaking certain restrictions in this realm? We have to report this to the elders when we get back so our brethren who enter the Vast Glacial Realm in the future can keep an eye out for such restrictions."
Thus, the two Rong beings chatted with one another within the cloud, but their conversation was completely inaudible outside the cloud.
The cloud that they were hiding in had been manifested from some kind of profound restriction, and these two were naturally the Rong beings who were keeping lookout.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, while they were conversing with one another, there was an indetectable shadow within a white cloud over 1,000 feet above them, and this faint shadow was directly inspecting them.
Their cloud restriction seemed to be unable to impede that man's gaze.
This shadow was naturally none other than Han Li, who had taken close to half a day to get to this place. The white cloud restriction was indeed quite profound, but Han Li was still able to notice these two Rong beings with his spirit eye ability.
Thus, he immediately used his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman to adopt this indistinct form before slowly flying above them. Through the use of his ultra-powerful spiritual sense, he was naturally able to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two Rong beings, and he was quite relieved to hear that they hadn't yet secured the entire cultivation art.
His expression changed slightly upon hearing about how multiple Vast Glacial Badges were required to break the final restriction, but a thought then immediately occurred to him, and his expression reverted back to normal.
A cold light flashed through his eyes as he took one final glance down below before descending toward the canyon.
Even at such close range, the two Rong beings failed to detect his presence, so it would've naturally been an easy task for him to kill them if he wanted to. However, killing them could alert the other Rong beings in the cave to his presence, so he decided against it.
After all, he wasn't here to kill these Rong beings; he had no intention of revealing himself prior to seeing the golden seal text cultivation art.
With that in mind, Han Li descended several hundred feet into the canyon with blue light flashing through his eyes, and he swept his gaze over the two sides of the canyon. His expression then changed slightly as he focused his gaze on one of the stone faces.
The stone face was of a faint yellow color with several cracks on its surface, and it appeared to be extremely mundane.
However, from a certain angle, Han Li could see that these cracks formed a star diagram.
A hint of elation flashed through his eyes, and he immediately descended directly toward that stone face.
Faint spiritual light flashed from the surface of the stone face, and his body passed through it without any impediment, following which he found himself in an extremely wide and spacious passageway.
There were fist-sized crystals embedded into the walls of the passageway, all of which were shimmering with faint white light.
There was an azure wooden door standing several hundred feet in front of him, and it was slightly ajar.
The door was over 200 feet tall with indentations all over its surface, and it was also missing a corner, so it had clearly been forced open by someone through brute force.
Han Li narrowed his eyes as he appraised the door, and he could see shimmering golden runes carved around the edge of the giant door.
Most of the runes were incomplete, but he was still able to immediately identify that this was golden seal text.
There were two Rong beings seated with their legs crossed and their eyes closed sitting by the sides of the gate, and one of them wore a set of black robes while the other was clothed in white robes.
The two Rong beings also had fur all over their bodies, one of which had fur that was pristine white as snow, while the other had inky-black fur, creating quite a peculiar contrast to behold.
The Rong beings were clearly extremely cautious and had set up lookout posts at multiple locations.
Han Li looked at the gap between the two Rong beings, which was around 30 to 40 feet wide, and his brows furrowed slightly again.
He was very confident in his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, and its concealment abilities had improved significantly now that he had reached the late-Spatial Tempering Stage, but he would still be incurring some risk if he were to try and pass through between the two Rong beings. He wasn't fully confident in his ability to sneak past these two Rong beings without alerting them.
However, High Li didn't hesitate for too long before he took a deep breath and drifted silently toward the giant wooden door.
He had already made it to this place, so he couldn't just turn back. If worse came to worst, then he would just have to kill these two and force his way in. That naturally wouldn't be the wisest strategy, but it was the only course of action that was available to him.
There were many Rong beings in this place, but he could whittle them down by adopting guerrilla warfare tactics. His only concern was that the Rong beings could destroy the golden seal text in the cave in a fit of desperation. The damage would be irreparable, and he would've come all this way for nothing.
After all, with True Immortal Realm secret technique like this one, even a few missing golden seal text runes would make it impossible for him to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique. Of course, this was rather unlikely to happen.
If he were to strike quickly enough and even resorted to using his Profound Heavenly blade segment and Gold Devouring Beetles, he was confident that he would be able to kill the Rong beings in the cave before they had a chance to do anything.
Thus, Han Li instantly made up his mind before flying toward the two Rong beings.
300 feet, 200 feet, 100 feet…
Han Li reached the area right between the two Rong beings in the blink of an eye, and right at this moment, the Rong being who was covered in black fur suddenly opened his eyes.
Han Li's heart jolted upon seeing this, and he immediately stopped on the spot.
The white-furred Rong being naturally sensed his companion's reaction, and he also opened his eyes before looking around in a perplexed manner. "Did you sense something?"
The black-furred Rong being didn't reply as he released his spiritual sense, which passed over Han Li's body and swept through the entire passageway up ahead before sweeping backward.
"Looks like it was just my imagination. I've been struggling to enter a calm state of mind before I meditate lately, and I don't know why," the black-furred Rong being said.
"I see. That's not really strange; I've also been in the same situation ever since we entered the Vast Glacial Realm. It's most likely because we've been too tense here in this foreign realm," the white-furred Rong being said with a smile.
"Perhaps so," the black-furred Rong being said with his brows furrowed slightly in contemplation.
However, right in the next instant, he abruptly swept a sleeve through the air, sending a burst of silver threads hurtling forth, and the silver threads encompassed the entire passageway up ahead.
Han Li's pupils abruptly contracted upon seeing this, but he stood still on the spot and allowed the silver threads to strike him.
A peculiar scene then ensued!
The silver threads merely passed through Han Li's body in a flash before striking the ground and revealing themselves to be a series of hair-thin silver needs that were several inches in length each.
The two Rong beings appraised the empty passageway in an expressionless manner.
