"Unfortunately, two of the puppets that you lent me were destroyed during the battle; I'll be sure to repay you in the future," Mo Jianli said with an apologetic expression.

"Those puppets were a gift to you in the first place, so it doesn't matter even if all of them were destroyed," Han Li chuckled in a nonchalant manner. Mo Jianli naturally offered his gratitude in response. 

After a while, the four mature Asura Spiders also arrived from the distance as gusts of fierce wind.

However, two of them had been forced to reveal their giant spider forms, while the other two were still in their human forms, but their clothes were in tatters, and they were looking very disheveled.

It was clear that even though they had broken out of the formation set up by Mo Jianli, they hadn't done so without a struggle.

As soon as they landed in the stone city, Han Li said, "Fellow Daoist Ying, everyone's here, so we can set off now; where are the cores that you promised us?"

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han, I'm carrying the cores right now; here are the first six," Ying'er replied with a smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a white jade box that she tossed toward Han Li.

Xue Ran and Hei Lin's expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, but neither of them reached out to grab the box.

As for Han Li, his expression remained unchanged as he swept a sleeve through the air to draw the jade box into his grasp.

As soon as the lid was opened, several bursts of spiritual sense swept through the contents of the box, and elated looks appeared on everyone's faces.

Sure enough, there were six thumb-sized crystalline cores that were as fair as snow in the box, and they were giving off a mysterious aura.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li swept a hand toward the box, and three of the cores were sent flying toward Xue Ran and Heilin, while two were directed toward Mo Jianli.

After that, Han Li stowed away the final core along with the box into his own storage bracelet.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han!" Xue Ran and Hei Lin were ecstatic, and the former made a grabbing motion to draw two of the oncoming cores into his grasp, while Hei Lin reached out to grab the other one.

In contrast, Mo Jianli was rather hesitant as he caught the two cores flying toward him. "Fellow Daoist Han, surely it's not right that you're only getting one of the cores."

"Rest assured, Brother Mo, we'll be getting the rest of the cores sooner or later, so it makes no difference," Han Li replied in a nonchalant manner.

Mo Jianli was still rather hesitant, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and carefully stowed the cores away. "In that case, I'll keep these cores in my possession for now."

"I've already issued the cores; should we set off now?" Ying'er asked in an unhurried manner.

"Sure, please lead the way," Han Li immediately replied.

Ying'er gave an affirmative reply before descending into the stone city.

At her behest, a Body Integration Stage demonic cultivator in the Asura Spider Race transformed into a massive black falcon that was over 100 feet in length, and everyone promptly flew onto its back.

Immediately thereafter, the falcon spread its wings and took flight.

"Let's go. Hopefully, we can secure the rest of the cores without a hitch," Han Li said as he raised a hand to release a streak of azure light, which transformed into a giant triangular azure carriage.

He then led the way and flew onto the carriage, followed closely by Mo Jianli and the others.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li made a hand seal, and the carriage flew away as a ball of azure light in pursuit of the giant black falcon.

The two quickly vanished into the distant sky.

......

Close to a day later, a gust of black wind and a ball of azure light were gliding over a boundless ocean.

The more powerful sea beasts in the nearby area quickly scattered in alarm upon sensing the fearsome auras emanating from the two transportation devices.

All of a sudden, the gust of black wind slowed down before dissipating to reveal a massive majestic falcon.

The ball of azure light faded to reveal a huge carriage, and Han Li's voice rang out from inside. "Have we arrived?"

"Indeed. The glacial pond is situated on an island not far ahead; we'll be counting on you soon," Ying'er replied from the giant falcon up ahead.

"Good. If this trip had dragged on for any longer, then I would've grown rather suspicious," Han Li replied in a calm manner.

"Do you still not trust me, Fellow Daoist?" Ying'er chuckled.

"Hehe, I can't afford to grow complacent until we secure the remaining cores," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.

At this moment, many black dots had appeared on the surface of the ocean up ahead, and after drawing a little closer, it was discovered that these dots were a cluster of islands of different sizes with vastly contrasting habitats.

"How interesting! The distribution of the world's origin Qi of different attributes is different on each island," Mo Jianli remarked with an intrigued look in his eyes.

"I can sense some restriction fluctuations; it seems that the strange spiritual Qi distribution here is a result of many restrictions and formations. What exactly is this place, Fellow Daoist Ying?" Xue Ran asked with a wary expression as he swept his spiritual sense toward the cluster of islands.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he cast his gaze toward the Asura Spiders on the giant falcon.

"Rest assured, this is merely a battlefield left behind in ancient times. There are indeed many residual formations and restrictions, but all of them are incomplete and pose no threat to us. If you don't believe me, you can examine the islands more closely, and I'm sure you'd arrive at the same conclusion," the green-robed woman replied with a cold smile.

Mo Jianli hurriedly swept his spiritual sense toward the area, following which his expression eased slightly. "I can confirm that the residual restrictions here have retained less than 1% to 2% of their former potency."

"Hehe, it looks like we were being a little too careful," Xue Ran chimed in as he also swept his spiritual sense over the islands.

Thus, the giant falcon and carriage quickly sped toward the cluster of islands one after the other.

The Asura Spiders seemed to be very familiar with this region of the sea, and the giant falcon was able to easily avoid all of the residual restrictions in the area as it continued into the island cluster.

Around two hours later, everyone arrived before a giant island that was enshrouded under a layer of ice and snow.

From a distance, the island appeared to be over 10,000 kilometers in size, and even though its features were masked under a thick layer of snow, the outlines of several tall mountains could still be seen.

"This is the place; the glacial pond is situated in a valley here," Ying'er said with a hint of excitement in her eyes before descending toward the island atop the giant falcon.

Han Li and the others exchanged a few glances before following along.

......

Around 15 minutes later, everyone arrived over 100 feet above a valley covered by a thick layer of snow.

Both the giant falcon and flying carriage were nowhere to be seen.

"Where is the glacial pond?" Hei Lin asked with a peculiar expression as he swept his spiritual sense through the surrounding area.

"The treasure in the glacial pond may be inaccessible, but we certainly weren't going to leave it out in the open; it's already been concealed by a formation. Go and undo the illusionary formation," the green-robed woman instructed.

The four mature Asura Spiders immediately strode forward before flying toward a corner of the valley.

One of them flipped a hand over to produce a resplendent square formation plate, while the other opened his mouth to release a white flag.

The two of them began to chant something while tossing their treasures up into the air, and the formation plate revolved on the spot before releasing countless five-colored runes that drifted forward through the air.

Meanwhile, a giant white tiger image appeared on the white formation flag amid a flash of white light.

The tiger opened its cavernous mouth amid a rumbling boom, then released a pillar of transparent light that vanished into a corner of the valley in a flash.

As for the five-colored runes, they intermingled with the wind and snow before surging toward the same direction.

In the next instant, the space in that corner of the valley blurred before revealing a massive formation.

The formation appeared to be quite profound with a series of fist-sized crystals of different colors embedded all around it.

At the center of the formation were layers of crystal-like profound ice, forming a cylindrical platform with wisps of white light flashing within it.

"So this is the glacial pond? It doesn't seem to be all that special," Xue Ran said with furrowed brows as he appraised the platform.

"Hmph, if I hadn't used a formation and several pure Yang attribute treasures to restrict the glacial Qi from this pond, this entire region of the sea would be completely frozen solid in the instant that the seal is undone!" the green-robed woman harrumphed coldly.

Mo Jianli's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "Is this glacial pond really that fearsome?"

"We'll find out soon enough. Fellow Daoist Luo, go ahead and undo the seal," Han Li said with a calm expression.

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