Chapter 1244: Following the Trail

"Did you two manage to find much?" Han Li asked, directing the question to Xiaobai and Lan Yan.

"You bet I did! I never imagined there would be so many treasures in Gui Lingzi's cave abode!" Xiaobai replied in an excited manner.

A hint of excitement also flashed through Lan Yan's eyes, but she quickly suppressed it as she offered a storage tool to Han Li with both hands and said, "This contains what I gathered from the three rooms that I went through."

"You can take a tenth of what's inside as your compensation," Han Li said in a calm manner.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han," Lan Yan replied with a look of genuine gratitude.

The storage tool contained a priceless collection of treasures, so even just a tenth of it was a massive amount of wealth for him, something that she wouldn't even have dared to imagine in the past.

Han Li then turned to Xiaobai, who immediately grabbed onto a storage bracelet around his wrist as he protested, "I found everything in here, so it's all mine!"

"I understand, but I'm in need of Immortal Origin Stones, so I'll only take half of what's inside, while you can keep the rest," Han Li said with a wry smile.

Xiaobai let loose a loud cheer, then flipped a hand over to produce another storage tool and began transferring items into it.

"I have a request for you, Master," Weeping Soul suddenly said.

"What is it?" Han Li asked.

"Come with me, Master," Weeping Soul said as she strode over to the black crystal coffin at the center of the array in the stone chamber.

Only then did he recall the crystal coffin's existence, and he followed Weeping Soul to it.

As he peered into the coffin, his expression changed slightly as he discovered a set of white remains inside. The remains were riddled with black runes, and it was very peculiar in appearance, particularly the two crimson flames flashing within its inky-black eye sockets.

The entire set of remains was giving off an extremely sinister aura, as if it were the amalgamation of all things evil in the world.

Han Li felt as if just the mere sight of the set of remains was causing his wicked corpse soul to stir in his consciousness, and he hurriedly averted his eyes as he asked, "What a peculiar set of remains. Do you know what it is?"

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a set of Absolute Heinous Remains, a set of remains created by collecting ten thousand sets bodies and souls of people who've committed heinous atrocities during their lifetimes before being refined using a secret technique, and it's very helpful for severing wicked corpse souls," Weeping Soul replied in an excited manner.

"How intriguing," Han Li mused as he raised an eyebrow.

"This thing is very useful for all of us, Master. With these Absolute Heinous Remains, wicked corpse soul severances will be made far easier for you, me, Xiaobai, and Jin Tong. The problem is that this crystal coffin has been rooted to this spot, and in order to take it away without harming the Absolute Heinous Remains inside, we'll have to break the surrounding array first, and that's where I need your help, Master," Weeping Soul said.

"Alright, that's not a problem. You focus on taking the coffin, I'll help you break the array," Han Li replied with a nod.

"I'll be counting on you then, Master. With your Cardinal Heavenly Lightning, breaking this array should be a simple task," Weeping Soul said, then immediately sprang into action, and bursts of dense, black qi erupted out of her body before fusing into the array on the ground.

The array instantly lit up, and eight black chains that were giving off an astonishingly formidable glacial aura emerged near the coffin, connecting it to the array below.

Weeping Soul opened her mouth to release a ball of white light, which split up into eight parts and fused into the eight black chains, instantly turning them a half-black, half white color.

At the same time, the glacial aura emanating from them subsided significantly, and a barrier of separation appeared between the coffin and the eight chains.

"Sever the chains now, Master!" Weeping Soul yelled, and Han Li immediately flicked his fingers through the air in rapid succession, releasing eight Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords to strike the eight chains.

The chains exploded violently, and a burst of radiant, black light erupted out of the crystal coffin as it began rising up into the air.

An ecstatic look appeared on Weeping Soul's face upon seeing this, and she made a grabbing motion to summon a giant, black hand projection that caught the coffin in its grasp.

At the same time, she swept her other sleeve through the air to summon the Yama Cauldron that Han Li had given to her, and a burst of dark red light surged out of it to encompass the crystal coffin.

In the next instant, the coffin abruptly vanished, having been sucked into the cauldron's internal space.

"Thank you, Master!" Weeping Soul said in a grateful manner.

Shortly thereafter, Lan Yan and Xiaobai flew over to him as well before handing him a pair of storage tools.

Han Li accepted the storage tools, then inspected their contents with his spiritual sense, upon which an elated look appeared on his face.

The two storage tools contained mostly spirit medicines, demon beast materials, and other treasures of that nature, but unfortunately, there were no Immortal Origin Stones inside.

This was only to be expected, considering Immortal Origin Stones were generally carried on one's body. They were mostly never used in one's cave abode, and they took up a great deal of storage space, so it didn't make sense to leave them lying around.

The most valuable treasures in Gui Lingzi's collection were most likely in his storage tool.

Having said that, this was still a massive haul that could be sold for around seventy to eighty million Immortal Origin Stones.

"Let's go after Qu Lin. We've already wasted enough time here," Han Li said as he returned the same way that he had come from, with Weeping Soul and the others following close behind, and they quickly arrived back at the collapsed stone hall from before.

The path back was completely blocked by fallen rocks, but that didn't pose much of an obstacle for Han Li's group, who were able to clear away the rocks as they went, and they quickly arrived at a crossroads.

Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes to inspect the residual spiritual power traces left behind in this place, only to discover that the traces were very scant, and all of them had been left behind when he, Lan Yan, and Qu Lin had passed through this area together.

Somehow, Qu Lin had managed to completely cover his tracks and erase the spiritual power traces left behind from when he passed back through this point.

On top of that, the fact that Weeping Soul hadn't been able to detect his sinister intent earlier as he was leading them into that trap was a clear indication of just how thoroughly he had concealed his intentions.

Han Li harrumphed coldly as he channeled his Infernal Devilish Eyes with all his might, hoping that his ocular abilities would be superior to Qu Lin's concealment techniques.

A pair of dark purple vortexes took shape within his pupils as he cast his gaze into the crossroad up ahead, and an elated look appeared on his face as caught a glimpse of an extremely faint glimmer of golden light that extended into one of the paths of the crossroads.

The golden light was spread out in a very chaotic fashion, and they were extremely faint, virtually impossible to detect if he wasn't close to full mastery over his Infernal Devilish Eyes.

"Have you found a trail, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.

"Indeed, I have. Come with me," Han Li replied with a nod, then led Weeping Soul and the others down the path.

Close to a day flew by in a flash, and they were still racing through the network of underground passageways.

At this point, the underground area that they were in was completely devoid of ghostly qi, indicating that they were already far away from the Ghost Valley, yet there was still no end in sight up ahead.

They had encountered some restrictions and obstacles along the way, but none of them had been all that formidable, and many of them had already been destroyed, presumably by Qu Lin, so they didn't pose much of a hindrance.

"Do you know what the purpose of this huge underground network is, Fellow Daoist Lan?" Han Li aksed.

"Given my lowly status in the Nine Origins Temple, I've only ever been in the inner temple a handful of times, and I didn't even know that this network of underground tunnels existed," Lan Yan replied with a wry smile.

Han Li nodded in response, unsurprised by this answer as he continued onward.

After flying for a short while longer, he spotted a faint glimmer of golden light up ahead, right at the extreme limit of his vision.

Han Li immediately stopped in his tracks, as did everyone else, and Weeping Soul asked, "Have we finally reached the end?"

"I don't know about that, but there's definitely something up ahead. As a safety precaution, I'll get all of you to return to the Flower Branch domain. Rest assured, I'll project what's happening outside into the domain," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light.

"Alright, make sure to be careful, Master," Weeping Soul said, then flew into the Flower Branch domain, followed by Lan Yan and Xiaobai, the latter of whom did so with clear reluctance.

After the three of them entered the domain, Han Li concealed himself using his black Reincarnation Palace mask, then quickly made his way to the end of the passageway.

At the end of the passageway was a golden wall forged from some type of golden ore, and that was the source of the golden light that Han Li had spotted earlier.

At close proximity, he could also sense extremely potent metal law power fluctuations emanating from the wall, and his eyes instantly lit up at the sight of it.

This is Heavenend Gold Rock!

Heavenend Gold Rock was an extremely precious type of metal-attribute law material. It was inferior in value to Heavenly Vajra Diamond, but such a large quantity of it could still be sold for a very good price.

Han Li shook his head in amusement at this thought. He had become so obsessed with earning Immortal Origin Stones of late that he was constantly assessing the monetary value of everything that he came across.

All of a sudden, Han Li's gaze fell upon a corner of the golden stone wall, where a hole appeared to have chewed through it.

Faint glimmers of light could be seen through the hole, clearly indicating that there was something of interest on the other side.

There was a restriction in the wall that repelled Han Li's spiritual sense, making it impossible for him to detect what was on the other side.