The Spirit beings were also very excited to see the island, but their expressions quickly returned to normal after they exchanged a few peculiar glances.
"Let's go. Hopefully, the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus really are as extraordinary as the legends proclaim," Han Li said.
"Indeed, our destination is right in front of our eyes; what are we waiting for?" the Long Family patriarch chortled as he shot forth toward the giant island as a streak of golden light, followed closely by Elder Hui.
"Let's go as well," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns said before stowing away the giant ark, then flipped a hand over to summon a purple flag. She gently waved the flag through the air, and it released a burst of light that swept up all of the Spirit beings before carrying them away within a ball of purple light.
In this area of the sea where spiritual Qi was so abundant, they were naturally able to use whatever movement techniques they pleased.
Thus, Han Li and the woman from the Ye Family were the only ones left.
The woman turned to Han Li with a smile, and asked, "We've reached our destination, Brother Han; do you have any plans?"
"What plans could I possibly have? Didn't we agree that we would all use the Spirit Cleansing Pond together and split the Clean Spirit Lotuses evenly among everyone?" Han Li replied in a calm manner.
"I'd naturally be willing to follow this arrangement if everyone else abided by it as well, but if some type of mishap were to occur?" the woman asked.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist; just as we agreed, we'll stick together as allies if something goes wrong," Han Li replied after a brief pause.
The woman from the Ye Family was very relieved to hear this, and her smile widened even further as she said, "I knew you were a man of your word, Brother Han! Let's set off as well. This island is quite large, but with their powers, I'm sure it wouldn't take them too long to find the Spirit Cleansing Pond."
Han Li nodded in response before rising up into the air and flying toward the giant island as a streak of azure light.
The woman from the Ye Family made a hand seal, and five-colored mist was released by her five-colored feather dress, carrying her up into the air as well.
Han Li wasn't flying at full speed; he merely followed along behind everyone else from a distance.
He didn't know exactly where the Spirit Cleansing Pond was, but judging from how eager the Spirit beings and the Long Family patriarch were to fly onto the island, they clearly had some inkling of its location.
A short while later, they flew over a plain and several forests before arriving at a lush and scenic mountain range that was giving off a refreshing plant aroma.
The Long Family patriarch and the Spirit beings suddenly stopped, and Han Li immediately accelerated over to them upon seeing this.
Five-colored light flashed, and the woman from the Ye Family also appeared beside Han Li.
At this moment, a clear divide had appeared between the Spirit beings and the human cultivators.
It was clear that even though they hadn't turned on one another, they had all become quite wary of each other.
After all, with such incredible treasures at stake, everyone was afraid that someone else would try to plot against them, especially considering they weren't even from the same race.
However, both the Long Family patriarch and Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns remained quite calm on the surface, and after a brief discussion, they sprang into action.
The Long Family patriarch swept a sleeve through the air, and a shimmering golden ax suddenly appeared in his grasp amid a flash of golden light. The ax had silver runes all over its surface, and was giving off bursts of astonishing baleful Qi.
Meanwhile, Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns chanted something before opening her mouth to expel a white egg-sized bead that was covered in crimson devilish patterns.
Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this, and he immediately focused an unblinking gaze on those two.
As expected, they had both been hiding something up their sleeves this entire time.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns pointed a finger at the bead, and it immediately shot forth toward the mountain range, then stopped above a certain mountain after just a few flashes while fluctuating incessantly in brightness.
"Over there, Fellow Daoist Long!" Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns immediately yelled upon seeing this.
The Long Family patriarch let loose a loud cry without any hesitation upon hearing this, and a series of golden scales appeared over his body while a pair of golden dragon horns surfaced on his head.
He had unleashed his half-dragon form, and his aura had swelled drastically as a result.
At the same time, his body had expanded to around 50 to 60 feet tall, and the golden ax in his hand was also enlarging at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye, quickly swelling to around 100 feet in length.
The Long Family patriarch gripped the handle of the giant ax with both hands before bringing it violently down upon the mountain that the bead was hovering over.
A burst of golden light erupted from the giant ax, transforming into a massive ax projection that was close to 10,000 feet in size before crashing down onto the mountain in the distance.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and a golden sun with a diameter of over 1,000 feet erupted, instantly devouring the entire mountain. Bursts of golden shockwaves erupted from the golden sun, reducing the nearby mountains to dust in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, a burst of powerful energy fluctuations erupted out of the golden light, then spread to encompass an area with a radius of close to 100 kilometers.
The space in the wake of these energy fluctuations rippled like water, and two more even taller lush mountains appeared in the place of the mountains that had just been destroyed.
Between these two mountains was a valley that was enshrouded within green spiritual light, and an incredibly thick pillar of white light that was piercing into the heavens was stemming directly from the valley.
"That's where the Spirit Cleansing Pond is!" The Long Family patriarch's eyes lit up with fervent ecstasy as he immediately shot forth as a streak of golden light.
Elder Hui also followed along with an ecstatic expression.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns was extremely excited as well, but her expression darkened slightly at the sight of the Long Family patriarch and Elder Hui, and she suddenly made a strange hand seal, which was concealed within her sleeve.
All of a sudden, Zhi Shui's emotionless eyes lit up, and his hands began to tremor slightly.
However, in the next instant, Bai Qi's cold voice rang out within Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns' ears, and her heart jolted as she immediately withdrew her hand seal.
The light in Zhi Shui's eyes faded, and he reverted back to his original wooden state.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns then turned toward the side to find that Han Li was currently appraising her with a hint of a smile on his face.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns was just about to say something when Bai Qi suddenly asked, "Brother Han, Fellow Daoist Long has already set off; aren't you afraid that he'll take the treasures first if you don't go after him?"
Han Li replied with a faint smile, "I'm sure Fellow Daoist Long wouldn't do something like that."
"Hehe, you sure have a lot of trust in Brother Long. Rest assured, even though we've tracked down the Spirit Cleansing Pond, it won't be that easy to access it," Bai Qi chuckled coldly.
"I see, then let's go and lend Brother Long our assistance. We're still in the Elder Devil Realm, after all, so it would be best for all of us to obtain the treasures and leave this place as soon as possible," the woman from the Ye Family said with a smile.
"Of course. If we want to access the Spirit Cleansing Pond, then we'll have to work together," Bai Qi replied without any hesitation. It seemed that he had suddenly taken over from Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns as the leader of the Spirit beings.
Thus, everyone rose up into the air and flew toward the valley in the distance.
After just a few flashes, everyone had flown into the layer of green light that the valley was enshrouded under.
To Han Li's surprise, the layer of green light didn't impede them in the slightest, and they were able to easily pass through it.
In the next instant, Han Li suddenly found himself in a world full of vibrant colors, and there were countless specks of five-colored light all around him.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he made a grabbing motion, and several pea-sized specks of light were instantly drawn into his grasp, revealing them to be five-colored crystalline beads.
Bursts of pure spiritual Qi began to surge out of the crystalline beads, striking him with an extremely comfortable sensation.
"This is crystallized spiritual Qi! The spiritual Qi here is over 10 times as concentrated as it is outside!" Han Li murmured to himself in a stunned manner.
After that, the entire group descended toward a green pond situated at the center of the valley.
There was clearly a greater concentration of specks of five-colored light hovering above the pond than anywhere else, and the Long Family patriarch and Elder Hui were currently standing in front of the pond, discussing something with furrowed brows.
"So this is the Spirit Cleansing Pond?" Han Li's heart jolted as he also descended beside the pond.
Meanwhile, on a small mountain hundreds of kilometers away from the valley, there was a beauty in a white dress standing atop a huge rock, casting her gaze toward the valley with mysterious silver light flashing within her eyes.
Standing behind her was a burly black-armored man.
