Soon, Han Li's figure appeared in the cave where the underground fire vein was located.

A scorching aura still permeated the air here. In the underground lava lake, the scarlet magma churned endlessly, with bubbles constantly rising and bursting, emitting dull thunder-like sounds.

The grand formation he had previously set up was still quietly suspended above the lake, but the light on all the formation flags was dim, as if they hadn't been in operation for some time. The fiery red cocoon in the center of the formation was also gone.

Upon seeing this, Han Li immediately contacted the Jingyan Firebird with his mind.

A moment later, a crisp cry rang out from the lake. The lava within the lake suddenly bulged into a large pocket, and a silver shadow abruptly sprang out from it, rushing towards Han Li.

Its speed was extremely fast, carrying an intensely hot aura and arriving in an instant.

Han Li was hit squarely by it with a "smack," feeling a burning pain in his chest.

Before he could reach out, the silver shadow slightly transformed, turning into a silver flame figure less than two feet tall. It nimbly fluttered and circled around Han Li.

Han Li took a closer look and was immediately delighted.

This silver flame figure was none other than his own Jingyan Firebird, looking delicate and pretty, like a five or six-year-old child.

Not only had its aura surpassed its peak state in the Spirit World, but even its eyes, condensed from flames, had become full of spirituality. It had obviously improved greatly, and if it continued to cultivate here, it could probably make further progress.

After bouncing around Han Li for a while, the silver flame figure suddenly transformed into a ball of fire and leaped onto Han Li's palm, turning back into a small figure.

Han Li gently stroked the silver flame figure's head with one hand. The latter seemed to enjoy it very much, squinting its eyes and raising its head to rub against his palm.

"Although this fire vein land is of great benefit to you, I must leave for a period of time this time, and I don't know when I will return, so I can't continue to leave you here," Han Li murmured, not knowing whether he was talking to himself or explaining to the Jingyan Firebird.

The latter seemed to understand his meaning and suddenly flew up, transforming into a silver flame bird, and let out a joyful cry.

After circling in the air, it swooped down and disappeared into Han Li's body in a flash, as if to say, "Wherever you go, I will follow."

Upon seeing this, Han Li smiled, put away all the formations he had set up here, erased all traces, and then turned and left.

After leaving the cave, he did not return to his cave dwelling, but instead went to Calabash Peak.

After dividing the Primal Dragon Grass from the storage bracelet left by Ping Yaozi, he planned to try refining the Spring Rain Pill. Since he was leaving this time, he naturally had to buy the Spring Rain Pill's pill formula.

It was not until late at night that he quietly returned to his cave dwelling, collected all the mature and usable spiritual herbs in the spirit herb garden, took the strange stone furnace that the Monkey King had given him, and then hurriedly left Crimson Cloud Peak and left the Candle Dragon Path.

……

Half a year later.

In the northern part of the Ancient Cloud Continent, above a ten-thousand-zhang peak, a streak of green light plummeted from the sky, smashing into the top of the mountain with a "boom," directly causing half of the mountain to collapse and stirring up billowing smoke.

Amidst the flying dust, a middle-aged man with a serious face and a cold expression stood on the collapsed mountaintop. He wore a simple, ancient-style green armor with gold patterns embroidered on it. The surface was unadorned, but it gave a sense of solidness and stability like a rock.

Looking at his appearance, it was none other than Gu Jie!

And under his left green boot, lay a fat man dressed in the outer sect elder's attire of the Candle Dragon Path, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, his face full of sorrow as he begged bitterly:

"Senior, spare my life... spare my life! I really don't know who you're looking for..."

A trace of impatience flashed across Gu Jie's face. He raised his finger and poked it towards the fat man's brow.

A flash of light appeared on his fingers, and a wisp of green thread shot directly into the fat man's head.

The fat man grunted and lost consciousness.

After a moment, Gu Jie retracted his finger and snorted coldly. He slapped the fat man's head with his palm, and the other's head exploded like a ripe watermelon, with red and white matter splattering everywhere.

Within his head, a golden Nascent Soul figure, devoid of spirituality, was tightly bound by green threads, and the golden light on its body gradually dimmed until it completely lost its brilliance and turned into ashes.

Gu Jie stood still, his face changing uncertainly, as if pondering something.

After a long while, he waved his hand, and a flash of light appeared in front of him, revealing seven or eight azure-colored beast-headed masks floating in the void.

Then, he reached out and grabbed in front of him, and an azure horse-faced mask flew out from under the fat man and floated side by side with the other masks.

"It's not in vain that I've been lingering here for so long, finally digging up something useful. As expected, it's in the Candle Dragon Path..." Gu Jie said lightly, looking at the masks in front of him.

With that, he clenched his hand fiercely in the void, and the masks floating in front of him exploded one after another, turning into dust.

Then, the green light on the man's body flashed, and his figure blurred and disappeared.

……

A few months later, in a hidden valley in the eastern part of the Zhongming Mountains.

At the mouth of the valley, a huge gully more than ten zhang wide extended inward from the accumulated snow, leading all the way to the end of the valley.

Where the gully passed, the ice and snow melted, and the exposed black rocks were even growing many wet mosses and low weeds.

And on the cliff wall at the deepest part of the valley, there was a thin figure tightly attached to the rock, bound by clusters of green vines.

A dark red line of blood ran vertically from its head to its torso. If not for the vines, it would have been split in two and fallen to both sides.

Its face was very ordinary, but it had a pair of small, rat-like eyes that were unforgettable.

At this moment, hovering in front of it was a middle-aged man wearing green armor, none other than Gu Jie.

He was also holding a golden Nascent Soul figure, which was struggling frantically, but to no avail.

"Speak, who were the people who killed Ping Yaozi with you that day, and where are they now?" Gu Jie asked lightly.

"Even if... you are a Golden Immortal elder of the Immortal Palace... you have no right... no right to intrude into the Candle Dragon Path... The sect master will never let you go..." The Nascent Soul figure's voice was intermittent, mixed with a hint of fear, but it still hoped to use the power of the sect to force the other party to retreat.

"I know there is a restriction in your Nascent Soul, so I can't forcibly probe it. However, I believe you should have heard of the 'Nascent Soul Planting Technique'? I have excellent Nether Water Evil Soil here. If I plant your Nascent Soul in it... it would be really something to look forward to..." Gu Jie sneered and said.

The golden figure trembled upon hearing this, and a look of extreme horror appeared on its face.

This Nascent Soul Planting Technique was originally a method of repairing a damaged Nascent Soul. It could nourish the Nascent Soul through innate spiritual soil, but if the innate spiritual soil was replaced with innate evil soil, it would not be to nourish the Nascent Soul, but a very vicious torture.

Once the Nascent Soul was planted in the evil soil, it would be constantly attacked by the evil soil, constantly feeling the pain of the soul being torn apart, and gradually transformed into a part of the evil soil. This process would last for tens of millions of years, and it would be impossible to reverse it, and it would also lose the possibility of reincarnation.

"It seems you won't shed tears until you see the coffin..." Gu Jie said with a sneer, seeing that the Nascent Soul did not speak for a long time.

With that, he turned his wrist, and a three-legged incense burner appeared in his palm.

There was no incense in the furnace, only a furnace full of black mud that looked like grease, emitting a decaying odor that only rotten corpses had, and black, shiny bubbles were popping up on the surface.

Upon seeing this thing, the golden Nascent Soul was terrified, and the only remaining bit of luck in its heart no longer existed, so it had to shout:

"I... I... I'll talk, those two people..."

He didn't actually know the true identities of Lin Jiu and the other person, but under the absolute strength and terrifying coercion of the green-armored man, he had no choice but to tell the other party everything he knew and guessed.

After hearing this, a ferocious smile appeared on the other party's face, but then he clenched his hand and twisted it fiercely, crushing the Nascent Soul into powder.

He raised his hand and beckoned, and the storage bracelet worn on the skinny figure's arm immediately came off and flew into his hand.

After he refined it slightly, he raised his hand and wiped it in the void, and immediately a flash of light appeared in front of him, revealing a golden pill furnace and an azure rat-headed mask.

Gu Jie raised his hand and stroked the golden pill furnace, and immediately a hidden rune appeared on the surface of the pill furnace, releasing waves of azure light, from which a secret fluctuation was transmitted.

"It's not bad, you actually concealed most of the mark I left behind. No wonder I could only find the Ancient Cloud Continent, but couldn't determine the specific location," the man said, raising his eyebrows slightly.

After speaking, he put away the pill furnace, mask, and other things, turned around, and flew towards the central part of the Candle Dragon Path.

More than half a month later, on a vast snowfield near the central part of the Candle Dragon Path, a green figure flew through the air, like a swift green kite soaring through the sky.

Behind him in the void, there was a huge white snow lotus flower, hovering and rushing towards this side, with even greater speed.

In the snow lotus flower, a woman dressed in snow-white clothes was lying diagonally. Her figure was exquisite, too much would make her look plump, and too little would make her look thin.

Her face was covered with a scarlet fox mask, which, although obscuring her face, left more room for imagination and added a touch of mystery.

In the center of the mask's brow, a small "three" character was written in a strange character.

As the distance between the green light and the snow lotus closed, they suddenly stopped at the same time when they were still hundreds of zhang apart.

The white-clothed woman's slender and graceful body was lying sideways in the snow lotus flower, with one hand supporting the right side of her temples and the other twisting a leafless white flower, gazing at Gu Jie with watery eyes.

"I don't want to fight you, it's not because I'm afraid of you. Don't seek your own death!" Gu Jie, wearing green armor, said coldly, looking at the white-clothed woman in the snow lotus flower.

"Hehe, I am not a fierce tiger, and I won't eat you, fellow Daoist, so you naturally won't be afraid of me. But as an elder of the Northern Cold Immortal Palace, you have intruded into the Candle Dragon Path and killed wantonly for no reason. Do you think the Candle Dragon Path is afraid of the Immortal Palace?" the white-clothed woman said with a charming smile.

"You are wearing a Faceless Alliance mask now, but you keep talking about the Candle Dragon Path. Don't you think you're meddling a bit too much?" Gu Jie said with a sneer upon hearing this.

"I have been feeling a bit bored lately, and haven't you, fellow Daoist, just appeared?" the white-clothed woman sighed softly and said quietly.

Her voice was melodious and pleasant, like a spring breeze brushing her face, or like rain falling on a secluded pool, tinkling. Listening to it in Gu Jie's ears, he only felt his mind sink, and his soul felt a bit numb.