"Alright, but before that, we have to make some other preparations. Ying'er, tell them to begin," the green-robed woman said.
"Yes, Mother. Begin modifying the formation right away," Ying'er instructed. The remaining Asura Spiders immediately gave affirmative replies, then rose up into the air before flying toward the formation around the ice platform.
Some of them produced a series of formation treasures, while others summoned some other treasures of peculiar descriptions, and all of the treasures were tossed toward the ice platform.
As soon as these items fell into the formation, they vanished into the ground as a streak of light of different colors.
Immediately thereafter, the Asura Spiders began to chant incantations while making hand seals, then pointed their fingers down toward the formation incessantly from above.
As soon as this formation took shape, white cracks began to appear on the cylindrical ice platform at its center amid a string of crackling sounds.
These cracks quickly widened to around the width of human fingers, and following a resounding boom, the entire platform completely shattered, revealing a pond that was around 100 feet in radius.
The water in the pond was as clear as a mirror, and as soon as it appeared, a pillar of white light rose up into the air.
However, the pillar of light only made it to an altitude of just over 1,000 feet before a faint blue light barrier was released by the formation down below, encompassing everyone as well as close to half of the entire valley.
The pillar of light struck the light barrier, and the former instantly shattered into specks of white light, then spread through the surrounding area as white glacial Qi.
Large sheets of ice appeared in mid-air in the wake of this glacial Qi, and it quickly converged toward Han Li and the others.
However, everyone remained completely unfazed as they released layers of protective spiritual light to keep the ice at bay.
"The glacial Qi here doesn't seem to be as fearsome as I imagined," Hei Lin scoffed as he swept his spiritual sense toward the glacial Qi.
"Is that so? Why don't you take a look at this?" The green-robed woman swept a hand toward the pond as she spoke, and several balls of red light immediately appeared around the pond, then rose up into the air, where they were suspended in a completely still manner.
The balls of light contained a scepter, a mirror, a crystal ball, and a ring.
The four treasures were all giving off scorching auras to eradicate the glacial Qi around them.
As soon as the four treasures emerged, the pond down below began to bubble, and the pillar of light it was releasing turned a far more substantial shade of white.
Immediately thereafter, the glacial Qi within the light barrier became over 10 times as potent as it had originally been.
In the face of this formidable glacial Qi, everyone's protective spiritual light was beginning to flash incessantly, as if they were about to be overwhelmed.
Xue Ran and the others were naturally quite alarmed by this, and they hurriedly released a series of treasures to help them keep the glacial Qi at bay.
"Those must be the pure Yang attribute treasures you were referring to, right? However, if this is the extent of the glacial Qi, then with your powers and treasures, you should be able to venture directly into the pond," Han Li said.
He hadn't summoned any treasure to protect himself, but a layer of silver flames had appeared around him, eradicating all of the glacial Qi within a radius of several tens of feet around his body.
"Unfortunately, the glacial Qi within the pond becomes more potent with every 10 feet of depth, so even up until now, I still don't know exactly how deep this pond is. As such, it's impossible to secure the treasure within the pond through conventional means. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been stumped for so long," the green-robed woman replied as she cast a slightly wary gaze toward Han Li.
The brocade-robed man was no less powerful than the green-robed woman, yet Han Li had been able to destroy him with ease, so it naturally wouldn't be too difficult for him to do the same to this woman.
"I see. How can we assist you here?" Han Li asked.
"Simple: this formation is one that was created by the formation masters of our race over a span of several centuries, and it can dredge the treasure directly out of the pond, but it requires an injection of magic power from six Grand Ascension Stage beings at once. Our race doesn't have that many Grand Ascension Stage beings, which is why we've been unable to use the formation. However, with your assistance, this will be an easy task," Ying'er explained.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "If I'm not mistaken, there seem to only be five Grand Ascension Stage beings present."
"Rest assured, Brother Han; I have a secret technique that can temporarily elevate my cultivation base to the Grand Ascension Stage," Ying'er replied.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. "Oh? Is this secret technique related to your space-time powers as well?"
Ying'er faltered slightly upon hearing this before taking a meaningful glance at Han Li. "You seem to have a thorough understanding of space-time laws. Indeed, this technique can only be unleashed with space-time power as a foundation."
Han Li merely smiled and offered no explanation.
"In that case, let's begin; I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to," Hei Lin urged in an impatient manner.
"That suits us just fine. Let's all adopt our positions in the formation now. All of you are very adept in the art of formations, so I'm sure you've already identified that this formation poses no threat to you," the green-robed woman replied as she made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the four pure Yang attribute treasures above the glacial pond.
The treasures immediately transformed into four scorching fireballs at her behest, then swelled drastically to form four massive scorching suns in the sky, sending waves of flames surging in all directions.
All of the ice and snow within the light barrier was quickly melted away, and at the same time, six stone pillars slowly emerged from the formation around the glacial pond amid a burst of rumbling.
The stone pillars were riddled with all types of spirit patterns and had spiritual light revolving all around them. Furthermore, each pillar had a small silver formation at the top.
"All you need to do is stand on the pillars, then inject your magic power into them when I give the instruction, and we'll take care of the rest. Ying'er, you go first," the green-robed woman said.
She was asking Ying'e to go first to demonstrate to everyone that the formation was indeed safe.
Ying'er did as she was told with a faint smile, following which Xue Ran and Hei Lin replicated her actions after exchanging a quick glance.
Mo Jianli hesitated momentarily before also occupying one of the stone pillars, while Han Li made a hand seal and abruptly vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted atop one of the stone pillars, and Han Li reappeared.
Seeing as everyone else had already entered the formation, the green-robed woman flew onto the final stone pillar, then issued an instruction to her brethren outside.
"Begin right away; failure is not an option."
One of the four mature Asura Spiders gave an affirmative response, and all four of them quickly scattered around the edge of the formation, then sat down with their legs crossed and began to chant incantations.
Runes of different colors began to fly out of the spirit patterns all over the entire formation, and they slowly rose up into the air to form an indistinct ball of runes.
At the same time, the Asura Spiders began to inject their magic power into the formation either directly or through their formation treasures.
A loud buzzing sound rang out from the formation, and the spirit patterns began to take on a translucent appearance, while the number of runes being released increased significantly.
A short while later, the ball of runes above the glacial pond swelled to around 10 feet in size, then became clearer and clearer as if it had taken on a substantial form.
The green-robed woman looked on with an unblinking gaze, and only after the ball of runes reached a size where it could no longer expand any further did she declare, "Please begin injecting your magic power into the stone pillars now."
As soon as her voice trailed off, she led by example, sending her magic power surging into the stone pillar below her in a frenzy.
Everyone else naturally followed suit, and with the influx of magic power, the six stone pillars began to flash violently while also releasing countless runes that surged high up into the sky.
With the new influx of runes, the ball of runes began to quickly expand in size again.
After a short while, it swelled to around the size of a pavilion, encompassing the entire pond down below.
An elated look appeared on the green-robed woman's face upon seeing this, and she pointed a finger upward while opening her mouth to release a net of azure threads.
