Chapter 2369: Securing the Treasures   An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the entire light barrier caved in as white cracks appeared all over its surface, looking as if it were going to shatter at any moment.

Right at this moment, the small pagoda that the statue of Daoist Tian Ding was holding began to release wisps of white light that rapidly vanished into the light barrier to repair the cracks that had just appeared.

The caved-in section of the light barrier also returned to normal, and the miniature azure mountain was repelled.

Han Li’s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he swept a hand through the air to draw the miniature mountain back up his sleeve.

Fairy Ice Soul was quite stunned that Han Li was almost able to shatter the light barrier with just a casual attack, and she quickly explained, "That statue of Daoist Tian Ding is no ordinary statue, Brother Han; it can assist the small pagoda, and I exhausted every method I could think of, but still couldn’t break through their combined restriction." "In that case, I’ll destroy this statue first," Han Li said as a cold look flashed through his eyes.

All of a sudden, his body began to swell drastically in size, and he transformed into a giant golden ape that was over 100 feet tall amid a flash of golden light.

At the same time, the Provenance True Devil Projection emerged behind him.

Immediately thereafter, he flipped his hands over to summon a pair of miniature mountains, one black and one azure, both of which instantly swelled to several tens of feet tall.

Han Li then hurled the pair of extreme mountains through the air with incredible force, targeting the statue of Daoist Tian Ding on this occasion.

As soon as the pair of mountains left his grasp, they immediately transformed into a pair of balls of light before reaching the statue in a flash amid a piercing screech.

The light barrier that was originally only protecting the pagoda immediately swelled to encompass the entire statue, and at the same time, the longsword slung across the statue’s back also tremored slightly.

Two streaks of azure sword Qi were unleashed by the statue before striking the pair of oncoming mountains like lightning amid a thunderous boom.

The two small mountains only shuddered slightly before eradicating the two streaks of sword Qi with their fearsome power, but their momentum was also significantly diminished as a result.

The pair of mountains then struck the light barrier, and bright white light erupted from the statue’s body again, threatening to repel the pair of small mountains.

Right at this moment, Han Li took a step forward and instantly vanished into thin air.

In the next instant, he appeared above the light barrier before clenching his huge furry fists, then thrust them violently downward, unleashing countless purplish-golden fist projections that rained down upon the light barrier in a torrential barrage.

In the beginning, the fist projections were merely disappearing into the light barrier, but the light barrier’s rate of absorption gradually became more sluggish, and in the end, it could only rely on its own fortitude to resist the rest of the fist projections.

Thus, one purplish-golden fist projection after another began to explode on the surface of the light barrier, which was beginning to flash erratically.

A fierce look appeared on Han Li’s face upon seeing this, and he suddenly withdrew his fists before making a hand seal, upon which the Provenance True Devil Projection behind him adopted its golden body form before thrusting its six shimmering golden palms down toward the light barrier in unison.

A resounding boom rang out as six golden balls of light appeared, then combined as one to form a giant golden vortex.

Countless golden runes surged out of the vortex alongside the sound of Buddhist chants before crashing down with tremendous force.

Right at this moment, two beams of white light erupted out of the eyes of the Daoist Tian Ding statue before hurtling directly toward the golden vortex up above.

The golden vortex suddenly released a burst of devastating power that crashed down upon the light barrier, which was already beginning to sway and tremble.

All of a sudden, a series of white formations appeared on the surface of the statue, releasing piercing white light that bolstered the light barrier and prevented it from being shattered.

However, the vortex continued to revolve rapidly while sending waves of enormous power surging down from above, displaying no signs of stopping at all.

Despite the statue’s profound powers, there was no way it would be able to withstand such a fearsome assault.

After the span of just a few breaths, the white light radiating from the statue faded, as did all of the white formations, and countless cracks appeared on its surface before it suddenly crumbled.

Without the statue’s support, the golden pagoda was even less equipped to withstand the tremendous force being exerted upon it, and almost as soon as the Daoist Tian Ding statue was destroyed, the light barrier being released by the small pagoda also shattered.

Han Li’s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he waved a hand downward, upon which the golden vortex and pair of extreme mountains vanished in a flash.

At the same time, the small golden pagoda was also drawn into his grasp. Fairy Ice Soul had spent countless years trying to secure this pagoda, all to no avail, yet Han Li had managed to obtain it with ease.

He appeared beside Fairy Ice Soul amid a flash of golden light, then quickly reverted back to his human form.

After briefly inspecting the contents of the pagoda with his spiritual sense, he handed the treasure over to Fairy Ice Soul in an unhurried manner. "Fellow Daoist Ice Soul, take a look and see if this pagoda contains the treasures you need."

Fairy Ice Soul was still astonished by what she had just witnessed, and she hurriedly shook her head as she said, "You broke this restriction entirely through your own power; how could I choose treasures for myself before you? You should select three treasures first, and I’ll choose what I need out of the rest."

"I’ve already inspected everything in this pagoda; aside from a jade slip that contains a secret technique that I could study, none of the other treasures have much use to me, so all I need is a replica of the contents of that jade slip," Han Li said with a smile before tossing the small golden pagoda directly toward Fairy Ice Soul.

A grateful look appeared on Fairy Ice Soul’s face as she said, "I’ll be sure to repay you for your kindness in the future, Brother Han."

She then examined the seven or eight treasures in the pagoda with her spiritual sense before drawing out a crimson jade slip that she immediately handed over to Han Li.

"This must be the jade slip that you mentioned. If it’s useful to you, then just take it; there’s no need to make a replica."

"In that case, I’ll be taking this jade slip." Han Li made no effort to turn her down and accepted the crimson jade slip.

A faint smile appeared on Fairy Ice Soul’s face upon seeing this.

"Now that the treasures have been secured, let’s get out of here. Otherwise, someone could destroy the formation outside again, and it’ll be very difficult for us to leave this place," Han Li said.

"Please wait for a while longer, Brother Han. During my years in this Heavenly Cauldron Palace, I’ve managed to gain control over some of its restrictions. I’ll activate some things that I’ve already set up in advance in the centrum formation so that I can close this palace at any time; that’ll make it so that we’d be able to teleport out of here as soon as we reunite with my blood soul," Fairy Ice Soul said with a smile.

Han Li naturally had no reason to disagree, so he nodded in response. "That’s a good idea. Go right ahead, Fellow Daoist."

Thus, the two of them flew out of the hall, and shortly thereafter, they arrived in front of the teleportation formation Han Li had used to enter this space.

Han Li made a hand seal before casting an incantation seal toward the formation, upon which it was instantly activated, and a faint smile appeared on his face upon seeing this.

The two of them strode into the formation and vanished on the spot.

Outside the mountainous crimson stone plaque, Xiao Ming’s trio was gathered near several massive silver runes on the stone plaque’s surface, discussing something with serious expressions.

After an arduous struggle, the three of them finally managed to make it into this space.

"Fellow Daoist Qing Ping, are you sure this is where the entrance to the centrum is situated? It’s it possible that you’ve made a mistake? Why is it that we’ve tried everything but have still been unable to open this plaque?" Xiao Ming asked.

"It’s definitely the right place, but the original entry method seems to have been tampered with and rendered ineffective. I know some beveled silver text, but I’m far from an expert. I’ll give this another try, and if it still doesn’t work, we’ll have to break in using brute force. Doing so may trigger some other restrictions, but we don’t have any other choice," Daoist Qing Ping replied with a dark expression.

"Alright, do your best, Fellow Daoist Qing Ping. If worse comes to worst, we’ll just have to break this restriction with our combined powers," Xiao Ming replied with a nod, and Mistress Wan Hua didn’t have any objections, either.

Thus, Daoist Qing Ping took a deep breath before making a rapid string of hand seals while chanting an incantation.

The four giant silver runes on the stone plaque before him began to glow brightly, and they slowly began to move along a certain trajectory, but the rate at which they were moving was extremely slow.

Around 15 minutes later, Daoist Qing Ping suddenly pointed a finger toward a certain part of the stone plaque, and yelled, "Open!"

The four silver runes blurred before instantly combining as one to form a huge ball of silver light.

Daoist Qing Ping’s chanting became more urgent, and the silver ball of light began to rapidly revolve on the spot, but after the span of just a few breaths, the ball of light exploded before reverting back into four silver runes that returned to their original positions.

It seemed that his efforts had gone to waste, and the trio’s expressions darkened even further upon seeing this.