Chapter 2409: Preparations   After that, Han Li led Nangong Wan on a tour of the entire Azure Origin Palace, then got her to select a side palace to her liking for her to live and cultivate in.

After witnessing all of the secret techniques and tomes in the tome library, as well as the countless treasures, pills, and materials in the treasure vault, Nangong Wan was struggling to pick her jaw up from the ground.

Han Li had encountered several miraculous opportunities during his cultivation journey, and he had slain many Grand Ascension Stage beings, so he was most likely wealthier than almost anyone in the entire Spirit Realm.

Having been trapped in the Small Spirit Sky for so long, never did Nangong Wan think that she would see so many treasures in one place.

Han Li urged Nangong Wan to select a few protective treasures and some pills, then gave her two restriction badges that would allow her to access these two places at any time she pleased.

Nangong Wan was naturally ecstatic, and she accepted everything with glee.

After that, Han Li met with the people running the Azure Origin Palace and took care of some urgent business, then sent out some people to track down the Ice Phoenix before taking Nangong Wan on a tour of the entire Origin Integration Island and most of the Boundless Sea.

During the span of around a month, the two of them were like an affectionate mortal couple and thoroughly enjoyed their time in one another’s company.

However, once they returned to the Azure Origin Palace, both of them went into seclusion, leaving the palace to Hai Yuetian to manage.

Currently, Han Li was seated in a secret chamber that was enshrouded within many layers of restrictions, and there were three glowing treasures hovering before him.

The trio of treasures was comprised of a golden page, and two jade slips, one silver and one red.

These items contained the Organ Refinement Origin Arts, Origin Astral Barrier, and that lightning refinement secret technique, all of which he had obtained during his trip.

Han Li took a brief glance at the three treasures before pointing a finger at the golden page, which flew up his sleeve as a ball of golden light.

The Organ Refinement Origin Arts contained within the golden page could enhance his powers drastically, but it required such an astonishingly long time to cultivate that he had no choice but to leave it for the future.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li stowed away the silver jade slip as well.

The Origin Astral Barrier secret technique was recorded in golden seal text, so its contents were extremely difficult to understand. Just deciphering the secret technique would take a huge amount of time, let alone cultivating it, so it wasn’t worth pursuing in the short term, either.

Thus, that only left the lightning refinement secret technique.

On the way back, he had already understood most of the secret technique, and full mastery should be attainable given another month or so.

He also possessed Divine Devilbane Lightning, so the refinement process wouldn’t require a very long time, either.

Once combined with the Lightningwield Technique, this secret technique would be incredibly powerful and would be sure to give his future opponents a massive surprise.

With that in mind, Han Li waved a hand toward the jade slip, drawing it into his grasp before pressing it against his own forehead.

After that, Han Li closed his eyes and fell as still as a statue.

Two months later, the jade slip on Han Li’s forehead had disappeared, and there were bolts of bright golden lightning flashing all around him.

The lightning then quickly converged to form a ball of lightning that rapidly swelled to the size of a washbasin.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of silver spirit flames, which transformed into a sea of flames to envelop the entire ball of lightning.

The ball of lightning rumbled incessantly while revolving rapidly within the sea of flames, and the golden runes on its surface began to flash erratically, seemingly reflecting some type of mysterious change that was taking place.

......

Meanwhile, Yang Deer was still meditating in the belly of that small mountain on the Thunder Continent with the small green vial beside it, and it seemed that it hadn’t moved at all in the past few months.

All of a sudden, the small green vial shuddered slightly before releasing a burst of green light alongside some faint spatial fluctuations.

Yang Deer immediately opened its eyes before rising to its feet and extending a respectful bow toward the small vial.

"Welcome back, Master!"

As soon as its voice trailed off, golden light flashed from the opening of the vial, and Ma Liang emerged into the open.

"You did well. I’ve completely recovered from my injuries, so we can leave this place now," Ma Liang said.

"Yes, Master!" Yang Deer naturally didn’t dare to raise any objections.

Ma Liang nodded in response before stowing the small green vial away up his sleeve, then opened his mouth to release a black and white formation plate.

The formation plate was octagonal in shape, and it was riddled with black and white runes.

Ma Liang tossed the formation plate forward, and it immediately transformed into a burst of black and white Qi before shapeshifting incessantly into a mirror, then a scroll, then into some other type of treasure.

Ma Liang pointed a finger at the treasure, and in the instant his finger came into contact with the black and white Qi, the latter transformed into a fist-sized translucent ball.

Immediately thereafter, Ma Liang began to chant an incantation before flicking several red incantation seals through the air, all of which quickly vanished into the translucent ball.

A ghostly crimson face appeared on the surface of the ball amid a flash of crimson light, then turned toward a certain direction before letting loose a low roar.

In the next instant, the ghostly face self-detonated and disintegrated on the spot.

"Hmph, looks like those two have left this continent. That direction is where the Tian Yuan Continent is situated, right?" Ma Liang asked as he turned toward Yang Deer.

"The Tian Yuan Continent does indeed lie in that direction, Master," Yang Deer immediately replied.

"Alright, I’ve completed all of the blood sacrifices I need, so it’s about time I focus on the task assigned to me. My secret technique failed to register anything on the Blood Sky Continent and Thunder Continent, so it looks like that traitor is situated on the Tian Yuan Continent," Ma Liang murmured to himself.

After that, he opened his mouth to swallow the translucent ball again, then instructed, "Take me to the nearest intercontinental teleportation formation; I want to go to the Tian Yuan Continent."

"Yes, Master; please come with me," Yang Deer immediately replied with a respectful bow.

Thus, the two of them flew out of the belly of the mountain as two streaks of light, then sped toward a certain direction.

......

In the air above a secluded valley on the Tian Yuan Continent, the Six-winged Frost Centipede was appraising the four Grand Ascension Stage elderly men before him with a grim expression, while the Ice Phoenix had a surprised look on her face.

After the two of them arrived back on the Tian Yuan Continent, they had planned to find a secretive place to go into seclusion in order to facilitate recovery, but only less than a year had passed before these unfamiliar Grand Ascension Stage beings had tracked them down.

Even though there were only four Grand Ascension Stage beings present, the Six-winged Frost Centipede could sense that there were all types of restriction fluctuations in the area, so there was no way that he would be able to escape even with his profound movement techniques.

"Who are you? Are you here for me?" the Six-winged Frost Centipede asked with a cold expression.

"Hehe, there’s no need to be alarmed, Fellow Daoist; we bear no ill will toward you. We would simply like to invite you to come with us as we have something to discuss with you," a round-faced elderly man said with a smile.

"I’m not going anywhere!" the Six-winged Frost Centipede retorted.

"I’m afraid that’s not up to you," the elderly man said in an unhurried manner.

"Haha, do you really think the four of you and this formation will be enough to take me down? It’ll be a simple task for me to kill you all and break out of this formation," the Six-winged Frost Centipede chuckled coldly.

"Oh? Then what about if I get involved as well?" Another elderly voice rang out up above.

"Who’s there?" The Six-winged Frost Centipede immediately cast his gaze upward in an alarmed manner.

A red-haired elderly man had appeared over 1,000 feet above him, and was appraising him with a hint of a smile on his face.

The man was giving off no aura whatsoever, and the Six-winged Frost Centipede’s pupils immediately contracted slightly upon sweeping his spiritual sense toward the elderly man.

"I am Ming Zun, and I would like to invite you to visit our trade guild," Ming Zun said with a smile.