Chapter 420: Reaching the Top
As the bolt of reddish-purple lightning faded, Xue Han's severely ravaged remains were revealed.
However, what had been revealed was not a body. Instead, it was a dark red wooden puppet with mysterious patterns engraved upon all of its parts.
Standing not far away from the wooden puppet was none other than Xue Han, and his face was looking a little pale, but aside from that, he was completely unharmed.
Patriarch Cold Flame and Xiong Shan's expressions instantly changed drastically upon hearing this.
That's a substitution puppet!
Xue Han summoned a pill that he promptly swallowed, and his pale complexion quickly recovered.
"I didn't anticipate there to be a restriction like this, but no matter. There are plenty of ways to kill someone without directly attacking them," he chuckled coldly, then began to slowly ascend the staircase once again.
Patriarch Cold Flame shuddered as he hurriedly tried to get away, but he had only just raised a foot when an unnatural flush appeared over his face, and he threw up a mouthful of blood before falling feebly to the ground once again.
A look of despair appeared in his eyes, and in an act of desperation, he turned to Han Li as he implored through voice transmission, "Save me, Fellow Daoist Han!"
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he remained unmoved.
It was already quite a struggle for him to carry Lu Yuqing, and if he were to accept another burden, then there was no way that he would be able to reach the top of the staircase.
The final glimmer of hope in Patriarch Cold Flame's faded at the sight of Han Li's expression, but in the next instant, a thought seemed to have suddenly occurred to him.
"Fellow Daoist Han, do you want the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts?" he asked in an urgent manner through voice transmission.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and suppressed his own excitement as he asked, "Do you have it?"
"No, but if you save me, I can take you to it," Patriarch Cold Flame replied.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Are you saying that the second half of the cultivation is in this Light Frost Palace?"
"That's right. The stone slab that contains the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts was actually something that I obtained after unintentionally triggering a restriction in the Light Frost Palace, and the main reason I came here this time is to secure the second half. That place is extremely secretive, so there's no way you'll be able to find it without me," Patriarch Cold Flame replied.
Han Li didn't offer an immediate response, and a contemplative look appeared on his face as he pondered the validity of Patriarch Cold Flame's claims.
Judging from the conversation between Patriarch Cold Flame and Xiong Shan from earlier, both of them seemed to have reaped significant rewards the last time they visited the Light Frost Palace, and Patriarch Cold Flame hd once told him that he had obtained the Great Universe Origin Arts from a secret area, so it wasn't all that far-fetched to imagine that this was the secret area he had been referring to.
Furthermore, the stone slab that contained the first half of the cultivation had resonated with the starry light barrier earlier, indicating that there was definitely some connection between this place and the cultivation art.
With that in mind, Patriarch Cold Flame's claims were very likely to be true.
At this point, Xue Han had already scaled around a dozen steps, and he wasn't far away from Patriarch Cold Flame.
A panicked look appeared on Patriarch Cold Flame's face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly continued, "Are you suspecting that I'm lying to save myself? I'm willing to swear a vow on my life! If I'm lying to you, then let me be racked with inner demons and suffer the most painful death imaginable!"
Han Li finally made up his mind upon hearing this. "Alright, I'll believe you this time."
"Wait here for me," Han Li said as he set Lu Yuqing down onto the stone step, then began to make his way toward Patriarch Cold Flame.
Lu Yuqing immediately nodded in response and did as she was told, standing still on the stone step.
Descending the staircase was far easier than scaling it, and Han Li was able to reach Patriarch Cold Flame in the blink of an eye before picking him and immediately returning the same way that he had come from.
Xue Han was furious to see this, but Han Li and Patriarch Cold Flame were still out of reach,and he didn't dare to unleash any further attacks, so he could only watch as the two of them sped away from him.
Meanwhile, a hint of derision flashed through Xiong Shan's eyes as he witnessed Han Li's actions.
Perhaps he could carry one person to the top, but in his eyes, carrying two people was no different from committing suicide for a mere True Immortal.
It didn't take long before Han Li reached the same step as before, and from there, he picked up Lu Yuqing as well.
With the burden of two people on his shoulders, his body instantly swayed slightly in an unsteady manner, much to the alarm of Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing.
Han Li took a deep breath, then began to chant an incantation as a layer of dazzling purplish-golden light appeared over his body.
Immediately thereafter, several true spirit projections emerged before vanishing into his body, and he instantly swelled to several times his original size, while a layer of purplish-golden scales emerged over his skin.
At the same time, two additional sets of heads and arms appeared over his body.
With these six arms, he picked up Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing, then began to scale the staircase once again, and compared with before, he hadn't slowed down in the slightest.
An incredulous look appeared on Xue Han's face seeing this, and his expression was mirrored by Xiong Shan, who took an astonished glance at Han Li before withdrawing his gaze and continuing his ascent.
"Your physical prowess is extraordinary, Fellow Daoist Han! I am truly in awe!" Patriarch Cold Flame praised as a hint of elation flashed through his eyes.
"There's no need to flatter me, Fellow Daoist Cold Flame," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice. "Also, I have a question for you."
A slightly awkward look appeared on Patriarch Cold Flame's face, and he prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Earlier, you referred to the person behind us as Xue Han. We were both there at the battle of the Holy Puppet Sect, could it be that this is the same Xue Han from back then?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
Patriarch Cold Flame's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he was silent for a moment before nodding in confirmation.
A hint of befuddlement flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing this. "In that case, are all of those other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators also adopting fake identities?"
"Fellow Daoist Han, for your own sake, it's best for you to know as little about this matter as possible," Patriarch Cold Flame replied in a meaningful voice.
"You're right, I was curious," Han Li replied with a smile, then asked no further questions.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already scaled quite a few more steps, and he was only 30 to 40 steps from reaching the top.
Xue Han had been left far behind, while Xiong Shan continued to make steady progress and was about to reach the endpoint.
Han Li was observing the steps up ahead with a solemn look on his face.
These remaining steps were going to be the most difficult ones to conquer, and he didn't dare to take them lightly at all.
Purplish-golden light continued to surge over his body as he steadily progressed up the staircase, and after scaling around a dozen more steps, he finally slowed down, having to take a short break with each step that he scaled.
The same was also happening to Xiong Shan.
The gravity here was astonishingly overbearing, to the point that even the air was buzzing audibly.
Han Li was looking slightly weary, and the purplish-golden light emanating from his body was also flashing incessantly.
Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold Flame couldn't help but feel concerned upon seeing this.
"Fellow Daoist Han, how about you put one of us down and take the other to the top, then come back and repeat the process?" Patriarch Cold Flame suggested.
"That would waste too much time. Rest assured, this is still not too much for me to bear," Han Li replied, and as he did so, he scaled another step.
Xiong Shan's eyelids twitched slightly as he observed Han Li out of the corner of his eye, and he also took another step.
Han Li's body was trembling slightly, and he took a deep breath as he braced himself before taking another step.
The summit was already within reach, and the sooner he could reach the top, the sooner he would be able to commence his treasure hunt.
With that in mind, both he and Xiong Shan were making one final all-out effort.
The gravitational force on the final dozen or so steps was so formidable that it took the two of them a full 15 minutes to reach the top, and in the instant Han Li stepped onto the summit, the gravity instantly returned to normal, leaving him feeling as light as a feather.
As a result, he inadvertently sprang up over 100 feet before landing on the ground again.
Even though he had scaled the staircase as quickly as he could, he had been forced to withstand three times the normal gravity due to the two people that he was carrying, so Xiong Shan was able to reach the top before him.
He heaved a long sigh of relief, then turned back to find that Xue Han was still 50 to 60 steps away, glowering up at him with a furious expression.
Han Li withdrew his gaze before setting down Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing, then reverted back to his normal form as he cast his gaze forward.
Directly up ahead was a purple gate that was several hundred feet tall, on either side of which was a pillar with a golden dragon wound around it, and each of the golden dragons had a golden dragon bead clasped in its mouth.
There was no writing on the plaque above the gate, only an artwork of an ice that was quite rough around the edges, but also somehow extremely life-like.
On either side of the gate was a tall purple wall that stretched into the distance as far as the eyes could see.
Han Li took a glance at the purple gate and the walls on either side of it to find that they were completely ordinary construction that weren't giving off any spiritual power fluctuations, and the dragon beads clasped in the mouths of the two golden dragons were also just ordinary ornaments.
The only thing that caught Han Li's attention was the artwork of the vast ice field, which resembled the ice field that they had flown through on the way here.
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