The others raised no objections to Devil Concord's suggestion to move the discussion elsewhere, and the group headed towards Spirit Turtle Island.
Han Li asked Master Sunreach for a sealed room to spend the night meditating as they waited for the other two to retrieve the formation plate from the spell formation masters.
Then, on the morning of the next day, Han Li received a sound transmission talisman from Master Sunreach and promptly appeared at the main hall.
Han Li walked in with a raised brow, noticing that the three great cultivators were already seated and talking to one another. When Wei Wuya saw Han Li arrive, he called out to him and summoned a faint red jade slip on the table with a flip of his hand. "Fellow Daoist Han, please take a seat. This is the location that you must place the formation plate according to our research of the sealing formation."
"Oh! Let me take a look." With a wave, the jade slip shot into his hand and then he took a seat before immersing his spiritual sense into it.
A short moment later, Han Li's face stirred and he withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip, wearing a gloomy expression on his face.
Han Li tossed the jade slip back on the table and raised his head, coldly saying, "Fellow Daoists, do you plan on having me go on a one-way journey to place the formation plate so deep into the abyss?"
Devil Concord calmly replied, "How can Fellow Daoist Han say that? Although the location for the formation plate is a bit deep, with the Divine Devilbane Lightning protecting you, it shouldn't pose a problem."
"Is that so?" Han Li glanced at Devil Concord and said with an angry tone, "Does Brother Concord believe my reserves of Divine Devilbane Lightning are infinite? Or do you simply wish for me to not return after I place down the formation plate?"
"You mean to say that you don't have enough Divine Devilbane Lightning to last the trip back?" Wei Wuya asked with a frown. "From what I remember, Fellow Daoist Han controlled quite a large quantity of lightning during his battle with the Elder Devil. It shouldn't pose much of a problem."
"Could it be that you didn't delve too far deep into the devilish Qi?" Han Li asked with an odd expression.
"Yi!" Wei Wuya yelped. "Fellow Daoist Han means to say..."
Devil Concord's eyes flickered but he remained silent. As for Master Sunreach, he lowered his head in thought.
Han Li knitted his fingers together and held them at his chest before he explained with an indifferent tone, "At a certain depth it is clear to see that the devilish nature of the Qi becomes even stronger and it exhausts the Divine Devilbane Lightning at a greater speed. I've reached this conclusion after delving a kilometer deep into the abyss. Although I do possess a bit of Divine Devilbane Lightning, I will not be able to delve ten kilometers deep into the devilish Qi and make it back."
Wei Wuya tensely frowned and turned to Master Sunreach, asking, "So it was like that? Brother Sunreach, you delved the deepest into the devilish Qi out of the three of us. Is this true?"
"It's true," Master Sunreach sighed and nodded in agreement. "When I delved deeper into the devilish Qi using my secret techniques, I felt my magic power drain at a faster rate. I originally believed that Han Li wouldn't notice and was thinking about warning him."
When Devil Concord heard this, his expression changed and he said, "In that case, our original plan to have a cultivator enter the devilish Qi depths with devil warding treasures would fail. Although they would be safe at the beginning, there is danger of becoming corrupted once they delve too deep."
"That's right," Master Sunreach said with a wry smile, "That's why I wasn't very interested in that plan. But since Fellow Daoist Han was still missing at the time, I didn't raise any objections as there were no other alternatives."
Han Li observed their tone of voice and expressions with indifference, but he grew somewhat gloomy. He was unable to tell whether the three truly knew of it or if they decided to keep the matter hidden. Regardless, he wouldn't easily agree to them.
Then, the room was filled with silence.
It was clear that it would be a death sentence to have someone place a formation plate this deep in the depths of the Devilish Qi. Telling Han Li to do it for a virtuous cause would be an even less likely matter.
Although the four present realized that half the Heavenly South would be affected by the release of the devilish Qi, none of them were interested in sacrificing themselves in preventing this as they already cultivated to such a high stage. If worst came to worst, they would flee from the Heavenly South altogether. They will be able to easily find a place for themselves in the world with their level of cultivation.
And apart from Han Li, there was no one else that could delve deep enough to place the formation plate, causing the three great cultivators to look at each other in dismay.
Then, Han Li's eyes wandered for a moment before speaking with a relaxed voice, "I am also aware that this matter is quite serious and that you all find yourselves facing a dilemma. As such, I have an idea I wish to try."
When Master Sunreach heard this, he hastily said, "What's your idea? Please, tell us."
Wei Wuya and Devil Concord felt this spirits roused and hastily turned to Han Li.
"It's rather simple. I believe I am able to reach the designated location for the formation plate with the Divine Devilbane Lightning, but I will not have enough to safely return. As such, you will need to hand over the devil warding treasures you've gathered over to me so that I will last longer in the devilish Qi. However, since this method does pose quite a bit of danger to me..." With that said, Han Li paused as if hesitant to continue.
With joy on his face, Wei Wuya hastily said, "That will be no problem! So long as you can place down the formation plate, we'll lend Fellow Daoist Han all of the devil warding treasures we've acquired."
"Of course, we won't have you brave this grave danger for nothing." Master Sunreach suddenly smiled at Devil Concord and said, "Brother Concord, what do you say?"
Devil Concord was stunned when he heard this, but after some hesitation, he nodded. "Indeed, if you accomplish this, we plan on handing over one of these islands over to Fellow Daoist Han."
"You would present one of the islands to me?" Han Li's narrowed his eyes.
"That's right," Master Sunreach said with a friendly voice, "To tell the truth, we planned on dividing the islands between seven great sects, but a majority of those sects belonged to our three superpowers. There is one island that is difficult to divide. We originally planned on handing it over to Fellow Daoists Long Han and Feng Bing [1], but it turned out that the two are in seclusion. As such we've decided to hand it over to a small unremarkable sect. Now that Fellow Daoist Han is here to brave the danger, we will hand over the island to your Drifting Cloud Sect. Surely no will raise any complaints over this."
"Is that so?" Han Li said with amazement. After all, from what he heard, not only did the islands have outstanding spirit veins, but they also have several rich spirit stone mines and other rarities.
After some thought, Han Li then worriedly asked, "Since the seven islands were a section of the grand formation, won't they sink back into the ocean when the formation is restored?"
"Don't worry," Wei Wuya answered, "The method we're using to restore the formation differs from the original used to create the sealing formation. Naturally, we won't waste the islands by having them sink back into the ocean. And the cultivators occupying the islands will also be duty bound to look after the sealing formation."
After muttering to himself, Han Li replied, "Since you three have made such heavy promises, I'll have to give it a try, but after this matter is settled, I don't wish to be further involved in this."
Wei Wuya heartily laughed and agreed, "Placing the formation plate is already considered a great service. Leave the rest to us."
Although Master Sunreach and Devil Concord both had different ideas originally, they grew at ease for the time being.
At that moment, Wei Wuya took out a white circular object from his storage pouch and handed it over to Han Li.
Han Li took a glance at it. It was a palm-sized formation plate that was meticulously carved from white jade. It flickered with spiritual light and was engraved with several complex talisman characters.
Han Li's hand glowed with azure light for a moment, transferring it into his storage pouch in the blink of an eye.
"Alright, now everything is ready except for one last thing," Wei Wuya said with a pleased expression, "When does Brother Han plan on taking action?"
"Naturally, the quicker the better," Han Li grimly answered, "I already rested the night and restored the magic power I earlier consumed. If you Fellow Daoists have the devil warding treasures on hand, I will place the formation plate right away. Who knows what could happen to the devilish Qi if we delay?"
The three great cultivators raised no objections to Han Li's suggestion. As for the devil warding treasures they managed to difficulty acquire, they all carried them on hand and each took them out, giving them all to Han Li: a jade scepter with a flood dragon head, a fire-red trigram mirror, a set of sparkling gold armor and a small black flag.
Han Li promptly tested the efficacy of the four treasures and found that they were exceptional. Three of the treasures were Yang flame treasures and would prove very useful in dealing with the devilish Qi. As for the black flag, it was a famous Devil Dao treasure. According to Devil Concord, the flag was originally used to ghostly Yin winds, but it is also capable of absorbing devilish Qi. Han Li looked at the flag with doubt and fiddled with it before finally placing it in his storage pouch, much to the shock of Devil Concord.
After Han Li put away the treasures, the cultivators left Master Sunreach's cave residence and head out in the direction of the giant whirlpool. Four hours later, Han Li appeared alone at the bottom of the whirlpool.
When Han Li looked at the devilish Qi below the light barrier, he silently made a fist and thunder rang out, instantly covering his body in several dense arcs of golden lightning, weaving a net of lightning around his light barrier.
As Han Li looked at the golden lightning, his mouth twitched, forming a trace of ridicule.
Despite how cunning the three great cultivators were, they couldn't have imagined that he originally possessed seventy-two flying swords created from Gold Lightning Bamboo. According to his estimates, he would have enough to make two trips and still have enough to spare. This task didn't pose the slightest danger to him at all.
On one hand, he had done this to haggle over the rewards as Master Sunreach had previously informed him that there were possible benefits. On the other hand, he had done this to avoid the three from realizing how much Divine Devilbane Lightning he possessed. In the future, the only things that could pose a threat against Han Li in the Heavenly South would be the three great cultivators and the Moulan Divine Sages; he had no choice but to deceive them.
[1] The strongest cultivator pair in the Heavenly Dao Alliance. They are mid-Nascent Soul stage Dao Companions that can match a late-Nascent Soul cultivator when joined together.