The Endless Sky Saintess gradually sped up her incantations and extended her finger at the cauldron, ordering its lid to launch into the air in a streak of azure light. Then, sparkling grains of sand flew out from the cauldron and enveloped the altar, entrancing all the spectators present.
When the Saintess saw this, she stopped her incantations and pointed to the chained bison on the altar. In a flash of light, the silver chains constricted, tightly digging into the beast's flesh until they cut through it like a thousand blades, splitting the beast into over a hundred pieces and filling the air with the scent of blood.
The azure sand began to stream onto the silver chains and densely cover the altar. Then, the bison's corpse began to pulse in azure light as the sand gradually consumed its flesh, much to the shock of those watching.
A ball of green light suddenly flew out from the bison's corpse and directly shot into the air. It was the primal soul that the Azure Wind Bison had strenuously cultivated for many years. But before it could travel far, several bolts of azure light streaked out from the altar and struck it down, submerging it into the streams of sand below.
After the time it took to finish a meal, the huge beast's corpse had completely disappeared. The entirety of its flesh and bones had been consumed by the azure sand with each grain containing a trace of its blood.
When the Saintess saw this, she calmly waved towards the huge white python and the chains tightened around it, silently bringing it to the top of the altar.
A similar sacrifice occurred with the python. With the flesh and souls of the two grade seven demon beasts consumed, the azure sand transformed into a cloud of blood above the altar and floated there motionlessly.
Then, the Saintess used an incantation gesture to will the huge cauldron to slowly float from the altar in a series of trembles.
She turned to the two late Nascent Soul cultivators behind her and respectfully said, "I am going to start summoning the holy beast. Please lend me your power."
The elegant youth smiled and calmly said, "Of course. We will do our utmost."
The purple-haired woman pursed her lips in a smile as well.
The Saintess nodded and raised her hands. She flicked her fingers and repeatedly struck the surrounding spell formation with spell seals. Soon, it began to shine with bright light in activation.
Both the huge cauldron on the altar and the spell formation underneath began to pulse azure light in synchronization. The azure flame on the cauldron also weakened.
The Saintess walked half a step forward and raised her head, uttering a cryptic incantation. Then the two Grand Immortals placed a hand on the Saintess' shoulders and slowly channeled spiritual power into her body.
The Saintess' body glowed with silver light and the pattern of a flood dragon with an ox head appeared on her forehead. She pressed her hands together and then opened them to release two beams of pure spiritual power at the cauldron.
As the cauldron spun, it absorbed the white light without end. And soon, it began to spout out a mist of azure light that soon condensed into a head-sized ball of light above the cauldron. As time went on, more of the mist concentrated in the ball and glowed with blinding light.
The Saintess' expression turned grim when she saw this, and the beams of light in her hand fluctuated in size as if attempting to control the cauldron.
The two Grand Immortals continued to pour in spiritual power into the Saintess' body, not daring to stop or neglect their task.
As time slowly passed by, the ball of light grew more dazzling and began to release a sharp shriek. At that moment, the spell formation surrounding them began to hum and continuously release beams of various-colored light towards the ball.
The Saintess' expression grew stern with caution and she began to quicken her incantation.
A while later, the ball of light shrunk before rupturing into a blazing azure sun. It faded away to reveal an egg-sized azure hole floating in the air. The hole only existed for a short time before fading away.
Soon, a scarlet light shot out from the hole and charged into the cloud of blood above.
The scarlet light was a magnet to the bloody grains in the cloud, drawing the sand towards itself in a rush and tightly covering it in a squirming foot-large crimson cocoon. The Soaring Tribe Immortals watching this were dumbstruck by the sight.
The Saintess silently pointed at the huge cauldron, causing countless azure threads to shoot out from it, wrapping around the crimson cocoon and dragging it into the cauldron. Then, its lid slammed down onto the cauldron and sealed it.
Azure flames surged to ten meters in height around the cauldron, completely submerging it. The spell formation below the altar then began to flicker with light and condense an astonishing spiritual Qi that slowly poured into the flames.
When the Saintess saw this, she sighed with relief.
The Saintess turned around and spoke with a clear voice, "The ritual was finished smoothly. However, we will need to wait a month before we can see the result of the Holy Beast's incarnation. Of course, even if the Holy Beast incarnation can't remain long in our mortal realm, it will last at least a week. This will be more than enough time for the Holy Beast to find the foreign cultivator. After the Holy Beast completes its sculpted body, the two Grand Immortals and I will lead the hunt for the foreign cultivator. Before this, everyone should rest and prepare yourselves."
Naturally, the Soaring Tribe Immortals didn't raise any objections to this and they all departed. However, a few were curious and couldn't help but take a few more glances at the huge cauldron.
Not long after, only the Saintess and the two Grand Immortals remained in the restricted area.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, Immortal Sun!" The Saintess called out to the two late Nascent Soul cultivators and said, "I must trouble you two to guard the cauldron for two days to prevent anything unexpected from happening."
"Of course," the purple-haired woman immediately replied, "We don't wish for our ten years of effort to fail while we're on the verge of success."
The elegant man nodded and said nothing else.
The Saintess relaxed when she heard this, but then, a series of thunderous growls faintly shook the cauldron and caused her expression to freeze. Soon after, the three cultivators present exchanged a glance and promptly sat cross-legged around the altar.
...
Two days later, the sounds of a bell repeatedly rang throughout the Endless Sky Temples. The many low-grade cultivators and tribes that still remained at the temples looked at them with astonishment.
Afterwards, over a dozen streaks of light tore through the sky and flew south without any intention of stopping. Although the streaks of light traveled quickly and no one could see who was flying inside them, it was obvious that none of these streaks of light could've belonged to low-grade cultivators, much to the shock of those who saw them.
...
Three days later, an azure streak flew past the southern end of the Heavenly Water River, the Endless Sky Plains' largest river. It flew a large circle on the river's surface, revealing itself to be a crimson flood dragon with an ox head.
The flood dragon was only a dozen meters long and a layer of faint azure light covered it, obscuring its precise appearance. The Endless Sky Saintess was floating above its head, as she examined the surface of the water.
A moment later, several streaks of light flashed from the sky and two Grand Immortals had appeared.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, has the Holy Beast found him?" The purple-haired woman asked.
The Saintess answered, "Definitely. Since this person is carrying so many Gold Devouring Beetles, he won't be able to conceal himself from the Holy Beast. He shouldn't be far from the surface of the water. This person is truly cunning to flee when the Holy Beast submerged. It was how he was able to conceal himself from us so many times. Let us go."
"Good," the elegant man coldly replied, "I also wish to see whether or not he is truly a Yin Sifting Sect Elder. He was already struck by Brother Hu's Elemental Immortalwrest Palm, but he is still able to safely evade us. I truly wish to see what he is capable of."
"I heard this person's appearance wasn't very tall and he seemed young. I also wish to see who is this powerful character," the purple-haired woman said.
"Since you two are so eager, let's go." The silver-robed woman chuckled and then a silver mark appeared on her forehead. By using some sort of ancient language, she spoken to their holy beast beneath her with a respectful tone. Afterwards, the holy beast snorted and took off in a streak of azure light.
When the other cultivators saw this, they hastily followed after her.
They followed the river for over two hundred kilometers before finding a section of narrow river channels. Afterwards, a faint crimson streak emerged from the water and streaked far into the distance before suddenly disappearing.
The Saintess waited for her two companions to catch up and said, "Not good! The foreign cultivator had sensed something and used a secret evasion technique to run. He is now over a hundred kilometers away. It will be troublesome given how powerful this person's spiritual sense is. The others are too slow. Let's go ahead and block his path. Otherwise, it is going to be hard to track him again."
The two Grand Immortals didn't raise any objections. They promptly raised their hands and sent a voice transmission to the few cultivators following them. Then the three quickly followed the foreign cultivator's track with all their speed.
Although they were so far away and weren't able to lock their spiritual sense onto the foreign cultivator, the incarnation of their holy beast possessed profound and great abilities. The three were right on his tail.
The chase continued for an entire day. Although Han Li would use the Bloodshadow Evasion Technique to separate from them by a huge distance, they would soon track him down and give chase once more.
Han Li was forced to unseal his cultivation three times, and now that he was still unable to shake them off, his heart grew sullen.