Half a day later in the depths of Myriad Poison Valley, silver light flashes lit the air, followed by the explosions of huge fireballs. With each rupture, dozens of roasted venomous insects fell from the air. Following a massive rise in temperature, a small sea of flames instantly rose from the ground and turned the insects to ash.

Bai Yaoyi clicked her tongue and said, “Fellow Daoist Han’s control over magic techniques have reached perfection. If you said you were fire-attributed, none would dare to question it.”

“It is only a result of practice,” Han Li indifferently replied, “When I possessed lesser cultivation, I had a preference for using fireballs.”

Then, silver light illuminated the area, and the group of Nascent Soul cultivators became visible as they walked through the sea of fading flames.

Han Li swept his gaze into the distance and came to a sudden stop with a frown. While the sea of flames was thinning the poisonous mist, it faintly revealed something in the distance. Before he could release his spiritual sense, Cultivator Yuan pointed his scepter and had it blaze with silver light, fully illuminating the area in front of them.

When Han Li clearly saw into the mist, he felt his breath turn cold. A hundred meters in front of them, there was a giant ravine at least three hundred meters wide with no end to it in sight. There would also be black Yin winds that occasionally blew out and scattered the nearby poisonous mist. Apart from Han Li and Bai Yaoyi, everyone else had been there before. The group of cultivators didn’t appear particularly surprised that the Yin winds still appeared incredibly violent.

“This is the entrance to the Yin Yang Cave. Everyone, let's take look.” Following the old man’s words, they walked towards the side of the ravine and leaned over.

The ravine was unfathomably deep and contained a fluctuating vortex of pitch-black Yin winds. Ghostly howls and wails could be heard from within.

Han Li’s gaze then turned to the walls and saw that they were a sparkling crystals, appearing to be a dense layer of ice.

After Old Man Fu looked at the huge ravine, let out a long breath and said, “These are only ordinary Yin winds, but once we reach a kilometer deep, the soul-shaking Yin winds will begin to appear. Unprepared, even we won’t be able to last long against them, but that is why I brought the Dark Violet Pearl. They will greatly reduce their level of threat against us.

However, the number of soul-shaking Yin winds will greatly differ depending on your location in the cave. Given our experience, you all should already know to be careful..”

After he waved his hand, he took out a purple ball the size of a fist. Han Li carefully looked at it as soon as it appeared, but when he touched it with his spiritual sense, his vision suddenly blurred and he felt it dazed as if his soul was about to fly out from his body.

He was greatly frightened, but his body began to circulate the Great Development Art of its own accord. A cool sensation then filled his mind, bringing his senses back to normal.

Han Li’s expression remained calm, but his heart was deeply alarmed. As expected of a Devil Dao sect’s signature treasure, it was truly bizarre. As that thought passed his mind, he turned to look at Cultivators Yuan and Bai Yaoyi.

They were continuously shifting their eyes and their faces had turned unsightly. It was unknown what they had used to escape the pearl’s bewitching effects.

Ignoring the aftermath of the three’s prying, Old Man Fu raised the pearl in his hand and began to mutter an incantation. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed and a ring of indistinct light emerged, covering an area of a hundred meters around it. Under the effects of the purple light, Han Li and the other four suddenly felt the vicious power of the Yin winds decreased by over half.

Cultivator Yuan put away his jade scepter and said, “The Dark Violet Pearl is certainly worthy of its reputation!”

With the pearl being held in one hand, he summoned a purple-red mist of light in the other. “There is no point in praising it now. It won’t be until further deeper that you will better know its abilities. Let’s go.” Then, green light flashed from his body and he dropped into the ravine.

The rest of the group followed after him and released their own protective treasures while still keeping inside the purple ring of light: Cultivator Yuan released a dark jade tablet; Bai Yaoyi summoned a crystalline saber; The black-robed woman took out a pitch-black shield; and Han Li spat out several golden swords.

Then, the party glowed luminescent and descended into the ravine. They were soon engulfed by the pitch-black vortex and their surroundings returned to normal.

..

There were eight cultivators above a small lake in Nanjiang, all wearing a different style of clothing and listening to a black-clothed figure in front of them.

These fellows were the Ye Clan leaders that had gathered at the imperial palace several months prior. The eccentric with the large head was standing with a swaying figure among them. At his side stood the square-faced middle-aged cultivator, and behind him was the Elder Devil in the guise of Han Li’s face. He was currently listening to the black-clothed cultivator with a calm expression.

As the black-clothed cultivator possessed far lesser cultivation, he treated his Nascent Soul-stage elders with the utmost respect.

“Four hundred years ago, our Ye Clan found a destroyed stone tablet from antiquity. From that, we found the approximate whereabouts of Kunwu Mountain. This is where our plans had begun to take shape. The mountain is known as the holy land of cultivators during ancient times, but for some unknown reason, they used their grand abilities to sink it into the ground. Let alone the many ancient cultivator dwellings on the mountain, the ancients had sealed two Divine Spirit Treasures alongside it. If our Ye Clan is able to acquire these treasures, our strength will multiply and we will be able to stand against the great sects of the Righteous and Devilish Dao. Over the last hundred years, we’ve dispatched many of our clan disciples over the majority of the Great Jin before finally discovering the area recorded in the ruined fragment beneath this lake. We have already called forth our clan’s formation grandmasters to dissolve the restrictions. Because this matter was of such grave importance, it was under direct supervision of the grand elder. and only a few others were informed.”

The black-clothed cultivator paused, “This ancient restriction was far more profound than we had imagined, with each layer spread across an area of fifty kilometers. A dozen formation grandmasters had spent over a hundred years before finally researching a method to dissolve the seal. By using the power of heaven and earth, we will attempt to turn the sealing restrictions against themselves and clear everything. However, the process of destroying the restrictions has been a huge undertaking. It had already consumed an enormous amount of materials, and required a great number of spell formations to be placed down, but most importantly, the process also required incredibly rare materials. These materials were slowly acquired with care and our actions had been incredibly stealthy. After all, if we allowed this matter to become known, the opportunity would’ve been seized from us. Over time, the restriction breaking spell formations had been gradually established, and now the project is on the verge of completion. The clan’s spell formation grandmasters will only need another month before the final formation is placed. When the time comes, we will create a grand-scale concealment formation and fully suppress the thunderous aftermath of breaking the restrictions. Then, the elders will be able to enter Kunwu Mountain and seize the treasures.”

After he finished, the black-clothed cultivator stood off to the side and remained silent.

“Kunwu Mountain.. that was our objective?”

“Inconceivable! I originally believed it was an ancient cultivator residence!”

“Tch tch, so only something as mystical as Kunwu Mountain would have Divine Spirit Treasures.”

For a time, the cultivators couldn’t help but mutter among themselves with unconcealed excitement, the exception being the eccentric with a large head, the square-faced middle-aged cultivator, and the Elder Devil.

With a sullen expression, the square-faced cultivator’s expression sank and he snorted, “Don’t be so excited just yet. Breaking the formation is only the first step in acquiring the treasure. If it were so simple, why would our Third Brother have us gather here and have our Seventh Uncle lend his assistance? Furthermore, our Third Brother will be delayed for about a month before joining together with us. He has to dodge those spies after all.”

The Ye Clan Elder in Daoist robes couldn’t help but ask, “From Second Brother’s words, do you mean to say that there is something amiss with Kunwu Mountain?”

The square-faced cultivator replied, “More than just ‘amiss,’ it is possible that we will not return.”

“How can that be!” An elder dressed in Confucian robes yelled, “Seventh Uncle and Third Brother are both grand cultivators. Even the more formidable restrictions shouldn’t be able to harm them.”

“If only it were so simple,” the square-faced cultivator grimly said, “Think about it. Kunwu Mountain was the holy land for ancient cultivators. Why would they seal it along with two Divine Spirit Treasures? Who knows what astonishing secrets and dangers lurk within...”

When the others heard this, they couldn’t help but look at each other in dismay.

The eccentric chuckled and said, “Enough of that for now. Those are only the worst possibilities. Perhaps there were some other reasons they were forced to. You don’t need to be worried, but you will have to be careful when the time comes. And if anything happens, I won’t leave it be.”

With that said, the anxiousness on the cultivators’ faces had disappeared.

Then, the square-faced cultivator turned to look at the disguised Elder Devil behind him and said, “Elder Han, you are proficient in many ancient records. We will very much require your assistance when we enter. Be at ease, we have already found two devilish artifacts. After this matter is done, we will hand them over to you.”

Fun Fact: The name of Kunwu is famous for various different reasons. It was a famous name belonging to a god, a famous pottery inventor, and even a treasure sword in the Song Dynasty.

Also, apologies, there was a slight error in continuity. The ‘black-robed’ Ye Clan Elder, was actually the square-faced ‘middle-aged’ Ye Clan Elder that was mentioned earlier.