Chapter 1388: Dark Hand

"So you also recognize the materials of this jade box, Brother Han. Indeed, this is Myriad Year Flame Jade, which ranks alongside Myriad Year Profound Jade. Only a container constructed from rare extreme fire-attribute materials like this can ensure that the phoenix feather doesn't lose any of its spiritual Qi," Ye Ying said with a slightly smug smile on her face.

"Only true spirit families like your Ye Family would bear to use such a precious material to construct a container," Han Li chuckled.

Ye Chu removed the lid of the box in an expressionless manner to reveal three five-colored long feathers, each of which was around three feet in length.

She pointed a finger at one of the feathers, and it drifted out of the box before hovering over to Han Li.

A serious expression appeared on Han Li's face as he made a grabbing motion toward the feather, and it was slowly drawn into his grasp.

He then began to stroke it with his finger and carefully examine it. The feather was glittering and translucent, and five-colored runes were shimmering indistinctly over its surface. The spiritual Qi emanating from it was also quite extraordinary.

"There's no mistaking it; this is indeed a heavenly phoenix feather," Han Li nodded with a content expression as he said, "It would most likely be impossible to try and artificially replicate such a brilliant treasure anyway."

He flipped over his palm to produce a pristine white jade box that was emanating astonishing glacial Qi; it was none other than a jade box constructed from Myriad Year Profound Jade.

Ye Chu and Ye Ying couldn't help but exchange a surprised glance upon seeing this box.

Han Li placed the heavenly phoenix feather into the box, and white light flashed, following which the jade box disappeared.

"Seeing as I've received the phoenix feather, the true dragon blood naturally belongs to you two now." Han Li glanced at Ye Chu and Ye Ying with a smile on his face before flicking a finger toward the azure cauldron.

Following a crisp clang, the azure threads around the blood dragon unraveled, and it was tossed toward the two women.

Spiritual light flashed around the blood dragon's body as it began to struggle in mid-air, looking as if it wanted to run away.

However, Ye Ying was prepared for this well in advance, and she immediately lifted the gourd in her hands with an elated expression. A loud buzzing sound immediately rang out, and a swath of blue light abruptly swept forth from the opening of the gourd.

The blue light flashed and enveloped the blood dragon's body before dragging it toward her.

Ye Chu and Ye Ying immediately began to examine the blood dragon with an intense unblinking gaze, scanning through its body with their spiritual sense over and over again at the same time.

After a long while, Ye Chu exhaled and finally nodded in approval. "It really is true dragon blood!"

A smile also appeared on Ye Ying's face.

She made a hand seal and the blue light forcibly shrank the blood dragon before drawing it into her gourd.

Ye Ying stowed away her gourd before turning to Han Li with a sweet smile. "You really are a man of your word, Brother Han. Would you be interested in becoming a guest of our Ye Family when we return to Deep Heaven City? Our Ye Family has always treated brilliant cultivators like you with kindness and respect."

"Deep Heaven City? I have no intention of going back there anytime soon. I'm going to remain in the primordial world for a while, and I won't be going back in the near future," Han Li immediately replied without any hesitation.

Han Li's response came as quite a surprise to the two women. A wistful expression appeared on Ye Ying's face, but she didn't press the issue any further as she said, "In that case, then so be it. However, if you change your mind, you can come to our Ye Family at any time, Brother Han; I would be sure to arrange a splendid welcome for you. In the meantime, we should get away from this place. Otherwise, the beings from the Wood Race may track us down soon. Also, that fellow Daoist from the Black Phoenix Race must be quite a headache for you, right, Brother Han? How about you leave her to me?" Ye Ying turned to the Divine Essencefused Mountain with a smile on her face.

"I'll have to trouble you, then; she is indeed a rather troublesome prospect for me," Han Li immediately agreed.

Thus, he waved a hand toward the Divine Essencefused mountain, and it shrank drastically amid a brilliant flash of grey light. Following a few flashes, it had been reduced to a miniature mountain that was only around 10 feet tall.

The miniature mountain then disappeared amid a dull boom, revealing Xiao Hong lying motionlessly in the crater below it.

Ye Chu was already prepared well in advance, and as soon as the miniature mountain disappeared, she flicked her five fingers down below.

Five streaks of green light came pouring down and instantly reached the air directly above the black phoenix.

These streaks of green light then exploded to form a green net that ensnared the phoenix within.

Ye Chu then made a hand seal and began to chant something.

Spiritual light flashed from the green net, and it immediately began to contract. What was quite remarkable was that the black phoenix was also shrinking along with the net, and was reduced down to around half a foot in size in the blink of an eye.

Ye Chu ceased her chanting before making a grabbing motion downward, upon which the green net flew up toward her as a ball of green light.

Following a few flashes, the ball of green light disappeared up her sleeve.

At this moment, Han Li cupped his fist in a salute and said something that came as quite a surprise to the two women. "I have some matters to be taken care of, so this where we part."

"We haven't passed through the Skyline yet, so we're still within Wood Tribe territory; I think it's best that you stick with us, Brother Han," Ye Ying said with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

"No, thanks. I really do have something that needs to be taken care of, and it won't be convenient for me to travel with the two of you. I'll be taking my leave now."Han Li shook his head in a decisive manner before stowing away his treasures and the Weeping Soul Beast, then flying away as a streak of azure light.

In the blink of an eye, Han Li had disappeared into the distance.

Ye Ying and Ye Chu glanced at one another following Han Li's abrupt departure.

"He's made a smart decision. Could it be that he's aware that we have more allies outside?" Ye Ying furrowed her brows in a rather gloomy manner.

"Perhaps. Even if that's not the case, it's a testament to how cautious he is. He hasn't given us the slightest opportunity to place him in a disadvantageous position. Otherwise, with the allies deployed by the family leader on our side, we have a very good chance of keeping him," Ye Chu replied.

"Big Sister Chu, you used a secret technique earlier to transmit your voice to me, urging me not to attack him; you're already a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, couldn't we have brought him down together? Perhaps there was no need to even offer that heavenly phoenix feather." Ye Ying was still clearly rather forlorn at the fact that they were forced to offer up a heavenly phoenix feather.

"If I only had to defeat him, then I'm at least 70% confident in my ability to do so at a very conservative estimate. However, killing him or capturing him alive is an entirely different story. You've witnessed that man's abilities and treasures, Young Mistress; he was able to capture that Black Phoenix Race cultivator alive in just a few exchanges, and the sword formation he set up at the end is even capable of destroying Divine Spirit Treasures. Furthermore, that spirit beast of his is even more peculiar. Even if I'd been in its place, I wouldn't have been able to bring down that Faceless Ghost Monarch so easily. Furthermore, he was quite relaxed throughout the entire battle, so he must have some other trump cards up his sleeve. If he destroys the true dragon blood in a fit of rage, then that'd be a devastating loss to us. Heavenly phoenix feathers are rare, but we'll have further opportunities to find them. However, true dragon blood can only be found in the Long Family among the human race, and we don't know how many more generations would pass before another lineal descendent with a bloodline as pure as Long Dong would appear," Ye Chu explained.

After a prolonged silence, Ye Ying sighed in a resigned manner, "I'm aware of this as well. That man's abilities and treasures are indeed quite extraordinary. Seeing as even Big Sister Chu wasn't confident in bringing him down, then I think we made the right decision. In any case, we've obtained the true dragon blood, so surely the family leader won't blame us for anything. The true dragon blood is far too important for us to be taking risks with it. Thankfully, that man was quite smart and didn't force our hand. In any case, let's get out of here. The battle from earlier was quite a fierce one; who knows if we've attracted the attention of the Wood Tribe already?"

Ye Chu nodded and rustled her sleeve to summon that massive wooden bird again.

The two women flew into the bird's body as streaks of light, and the bird immediately transformed into a ball of green light that flew away into the distance like a shooting star.

Meanwhile, Han Li was already thousands of kilometers away.

As he flew through the air, a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes as his lips curled up into a smile.

All of a sudden, he opened his mouth to expel the Heavenvoid Cauldron again.

Han Li carried the miniature cauldron with one hand before gently tapping its lid to open up a small gap.

Blue light flashed through his eyes, and two golden shadows emerged from the gap. After circling through the air for a while, they settled on the cauldron's lid, and revealed themselves to be a pair of thumb-sized Gold Devouring Beetles.

Han Li smiled as he opened his mouth again to blast forth two balls of pure spiritual Qi that enshrouded the pair of spirit insects.

Brilliant golden light erupted from the bodies of the Gold Devouring Beetles, and they swelled to around half a foot in size, giving off a rather menacing appearance.

Han Li began to chant something, and the two giant insects suddenly opened their mouths in unison. Crimson light flashed and two small balls of blood emerged from within their mouths.

Han Li's eyes lit up as he made a grabbing motion to draw the balls of blood toward him.

When he opened his five fingers again, a miniature blood dragon and a miniature blood phoenix, each of which was only several inches in length, had appeared on his palm.

Han Li had somehow managed to retain a bit of the true spirit bloods for himself.

Ye Ying and Ye Chu had been extremely cautious, but never would they have thought that Han Li would possess mature Gold Devouring Beetles that were capable of devouring all things. Otherwise, they definitely wouldn't have allowed Han Li to recover the spirit blood.

After all, unless special secret techniques or treasures were used, true spirit blood couldn't be split up, so they had become complacent, thinking that there wouldn't be any issues.

Han Li looked at the miniature blood dragon and blood phoenix in his palm, both of which were desperately attempting to fly away, and azure light shimmered from his fingers to ensnare them as a contemplative look appeared on his face.

Han Li hadn't decided on how he was going to use these two true spirit bloods. However, one thing was for sure; true spirit blood was definitely extremely precious and was most likely equal in value to some legendary immortal pills.

Unfortunately, he didn't know much about true spirit families and true spirit bloodlines, so he didn't know what to do for the moment. As such, he could only make a decision after conducting more thorough research on true spirit blood in the future.

All of a sudden, Han Li's expression changed as he abruptly flipped a hand over to produce a shimmering silver wooden box. He placed the miniature blood dragon and blood phoenix into the box, then swept his sleeve through the air to plaster several talismans onto the box.

Silver light flashed, and the wooden box disappeared.

After doing all that, Han Li cast his gaze toward the extremely far distance, and his eyes narrowed reflexively.