Chapter 430: Pursuers

Chapter 430: Pursuers

"What kind of vine is this? It has to be something very precious to have been kept here so securely. It's just a pity that it seems to be long dead," Lu Yuqing sighed.

"Regardless, for whatever reason, it seems like the person who came here before us was unable to take this vine," Patriarch Cold Flame said with a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.

All the while, Han Li merely remained silent as his gaze roamed over the withered vine.

All of a sudden, he seemed to have noticed something, and he began to inspect the vine intently with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.

"What is it, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing immediately asked.

Instead of answering her question, Han Li flew directly toward the vine, immediately followed by Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold Flame.

After landing beside the vine, Han Li lifted up a section of it for closer inspection, and the blue light in his eyes grew even brighter.

After a while, he suddenly heaved a forlorn sigh as he set down the withered vine with a disappointed look on his face.

Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing were both quite perplexed to see this, and they each picked up a section of the vine for themselves for closer inspection.

As it turned out, there were patterns on the vines that were rather similar to beveled silver text or golden seal text, but these patterns were more profound, as if they were the embodiment of the Great Dao itself. Witness the birth of this content, streaming forth from n0v!lbin★

The patterns were very faint, and they would've never been able to notice them had they not been scrutinizing the vine so closely.

"These are Profound Heavenly Patterns!" Patriarch Cold Flame exclaimed.

"There's no mistaking it. These patterns that are imbued with the aura of the Great Dao can only be present on Profound Heavenly Treasures. This was most likely a Profound Heavenly Vine, but the Profound Heavenly Treasure on it has already been taken, and the vine has wilted on its own as a result," Lu Yuqing said with a wry smile.

Han Li pointed at a spot on the vine, and both Patriarch Cold Flame and Lu Yuqing turned their attention to that spot to find that there was a tiny incision, which wasn't very pronounced due to how withered the vine had become, but it was still distinguishable upon closer inspection.

The incision had clearly been formed after something was taken off the vine.

Lu Yuqing heaved a faint sight upon seeing this.

Profound Heavenly Treasures were extremely precious and could be used to refine Essential Immortal Treasure, yet it had slipped through their grasp.

"There's no point in crying over spilled milk. It looks like we're simply not in luck on this occasion," Han Li said.

Right at this moment, the two Dao Warriors arrived on the scene, holding a pair of bulging storage pouches, having stuffed them with virtually all of the nearby Lightning Aura Soil.

Han Li took the pair of storage pouches before stowing the two Dao Warriors away, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, the starry restriction above the medicine garden suddenly began to tremble violently as a resounding boom rang out.

Han Li's trio immediately looked up at the sky with startled expressions.

At this point, the starry light barrier had only recovered a tiny fraction of its power, and it quickly shattered in the face of the formidable attacks being directed at it.

"What a rich medicinal aura! This is definitely the medicine garden!"

As soon as Xue Han left this place, he and Lu Yuqing would be able to sneak away unnoticed.

He wasn't actually all that fearful of Xue Han. With his current powers, even if he couldn't defeat Xue Han in battle, he would at least be able to ensure self-preservation, but it would be difficult for him to protect himself as well as Lu Yuqing, and he was quite interested in the map in her possession, so he didn't want to lose her.

After hearing what everyone had to say, Xue Han raised his head and slowly swept his gaze over the medicine garden, then suddenly made a hand seal to release a ball of black light.

The ball of black light squirmed around in mid-air like a living creature for a while, then abruptly swelled to form a huge black net that encompassed the entire sky above the medicine garden.

Han Li's expression immediately darkened slightly upon seeing this.

"It's possible that whoever took the spirit plants and the Profound Heavenly Treasure haven't gone far, but it's also possible that they could still be hiding here! We can't afford to pass up any opportunity to claim the Profound Heavenly Treasure!" Xue Han declared as a hint of yearning flashed through his eyes.

If he could obtain an immortal treasure refined using a Profound Heavenly Treasure, then his powers would be significantly enhanced, and that would allow him to leapfrog many figures currently ahead of him in the Ubiquitous Pavilion hierarchy.

"But there's no one here," the yellow-faced man said with furrowed brows.

"Perhaps they used some type of secret technique to conceal themselves, and we've simply been unable to detect them up to this point. Master Xue Han is right, we can't ignore any possibility!" the tall and thin daoist priest said.

"That is indeed possible," the yellow-faced man mused with a contemplative expression.

Xue Han paid no heed to the discussion taking place around him as he began to chant an incantation, and a ball of silver light flew out of his body, containing a pristine white miniature pagoda that was around half a foot tall with a series of profound patterns engraved upon it.

The miniature pagoda quickly swelled to in excess of the height of a grown man, and all of the patterns on its surface had lit up at once.

A series of dazzling white ripples began to proliferate outward from the pagoda, and all of the surrounding world's origin qi instantly began to tremble, as if it were resonating with these white ripples.

The white ripples quickly spread over the entire medicine garden, and Han Li and Lu Yuqing had also become encompassed within them.

The faint light barrier around the two of them instantly began to tremble, and they were slowly being exposed.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he began to chant his incantation and make hand seals with more urgency.

However, his efforts proved to be futile, and it seemed that they were inevitably going to be exposed.

Right at this moment, a burst of faint light emerged from another corner of the medicine garden, then exploded with a dull thump to reveal Patriarch Cold Flame with a panicked look on his face.

"I knew it was you, Cold Flame!" Xue Han said in a cold voice.

Patriarch Cold Flame shuddered as a hint of despair appeared in his eyes, and he began to frantically look around as if he were searching for something.

"Traitors must die! Kill him!" Xue Han declared, and all of the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators instantly pounced at Patriarch Cold Flame, led by none other than the tall and thin daoist priest and the yellow-faced man.

The former swept both sleeves through the air to release balls of azure light that contained arcs of azure lightning, which hurtled directly toward Patriarch Cold Flame, while the latter instantly transformed into a pillar of crimson light.

A massive ghostly projection emerged within the pillar of light before biting down upon Patriarch Cold Flame with ferocious power, while a layer of starlight emerged over Patriarch Cold Flame's body as he fled from the scene as quickly as he could.

"Layman Bone Flame! Daoist Clear Bright! How could you..."

Before he had a chance to finish, he was bombarded by a string of spirit treasures.