The surface of the pond was rapidly lowering at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye, and its depth was reduced by around 10 feet in the blink of an eye.

On this occasion, instead of just bathing in the Spirit Cleansing Pond, the beetles were drinking the water from the pond as well.

Seeing as the water from the pond couldn't be taken away, Han Li decided to try and get his Gold Devouring Beetles to drink it.

Of course, he only dared to make this decision as mature Gold Devouring Beetles could devour virtually all things and were close to indestructible; he wouldn't have dared to take the same risk with the Leopard Kirin Beast or spirit body as who knew what kind of consequences could arise from directly consuming the water in the pond?

It certainly wouldn't be a surprise to see normal living beings self-detonate from attempting something like this.

Thus, Han Li stood beside the pond, looking as its surface was lowered further and further.

Once the pond reached a depth of around 60 feet, something peculiar happened.

The Gold Devouring Beetles were still gulping down water with reckless abandon, but the surface of the pond didn't drop any lower. Through the use of his spiritual sense, Han Li could sense that all of the Gold Devouring Beetles were indeed still devouring water, so this was naturally very surprising to him.

His brows furrowed slightly as he looked up into the sky, then thought about what little time he had left before making a decision and plunging into the pond as a streak of azure light.

Due to the massive drop in the depth of the pond, the pressure within it had abated significantly, allowing him to easily reach the bottom of the pond.

He cast his gaze downward and almost immediately caught sight of several indistinct stone slabs, which had emerged from the layer of fine white sand at the bottom of the pond.

These stone slabs had patterns on their surfaces that were similar to those on the sides of the pond, and they weren't very uniform, indicating that these were naturally formed patterns.

With the way that the stone slabs were arranged, the patterns on their surfaces just so happened to form a slightly damaged formation.

The formation was only around 10 feet in size, and there was a fist-sized hole in its center, from within which silver liquid that was identical to the water in the pond was pouring out.

Han Li was ecstatic upon seeing this as he knew that this was the source of the seemingly endless supply of water in the pond.

There seemed to be some type of treasure within the hole that was pumping out spirit liquid incessantly, and Han Li immediately made a grabbing motion to summon an azure longsword before slashing it down toward the hole.

A resounding boom rang out as a dense five-colored light barrier appeared over the formation, and the azure longsword was repelled.

Han Li's expression darkened slightly as he opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames, but that was easily repelled as well.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li made a hand seal, and hundreds of the Gold Devouring Beetles in the pond immediately swooped down toward the small formation.

Moments later, the five-colored light barrier resurfaced, and the beetles instantly began to devour it in a frenzy.

With the fearsome devouring might of the Gold Devouring Beetles, the restriction would be completely eradicated in mere moments.

However, just as a smile had appeared on Han Li's face, it abruptly stiffened.

He discovered that the beetles were unable to leave so much as a single trace on the five-colored light barrier; it was too resolute for them to devour!

Han Li was stunned to see this, and after contemplating the situation for a brief moment, he raised a hand to scatter the mature Gold Devouring Beetles, then instructed the 13 Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles to take their place.

On this occasion, the Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles were able to inflict deep gashes onto the light barrier, and Han Li heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

If the light barrier had been impervious even to the Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles, then he really would be at a complete loss.

However, another issue quickly arose.

Han Li discovered that even though gashes were quickly being inflicted onto the light barrier, they would instantly seal amid faint flashes of light.

Not only was the five-colored light barrier extremely resolute, it also possessed incredible regenerative abilities.

Han Li was truly stunned to see this.

If he had some time, he would be able to set up a few formations to slowly weaken this restriction, but there was simply no time left. He either had to give up on this plan entirely or make one final roll of the dice and turn to his Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword.

There was no way that the five-colored light barrier would be able to withstand the power of his Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword, and if there really were a treasure within the hole that was creating the liquid in the pond, its value would be downright unimaginable.

Having said that, after he left this space, he would have to face the two devilish patriarchs again. If he were to expend a huge amount of power to use the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword, it would place him in a very perilous situation.

After considering the situation for a long while, Han Li finally arrived at a decision. "So be it, no matter what treasure there is within the hole, it's not going to be able to compare with a Profound Heavenly Treasure. I already have an opportunity to progress to the Grand Ascension Stage now, and once I make the breakthrough, I'll be able to truly control the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword, so there's no need for me to take such a risk. What a pity; if I had discovered this formation a day earlier, perhaps I would have some practical chances."

Thus, Han Li swept his sleeves through the air, and all of the Gold Devouring Beetles quickly flew into his sleeve.

Immediately thereafter, he rose up out of the pond as a streak of azure light before flying toward a certain direction.

Without the Gold Devouring Beetles drinking the water from the pond, its surface began to slowly rise again.

A series of five-colored clouds appeared up above, and arcs of lightning began to emerge amid rumbling thunderclaps.

At this point, Han Li had already flown onto an altar situated at one corner of this space, and at the center of the altar was a silver formation.

This was the formation Han Li had used to enter this space, so he naturally had to use it to leave as well.

However, instead of immediately entering the formation, Han Li looked up into the sky instead.

He could sense that the power of heaven and earth was repressing him in a ferocious manner, and if he had left any later than this, perhaps he really would've been trapped in here just as Bao Hua had warned.

After heaving a faint sigh, Han Li strode into the silver formation before raising a hand to release an azure incantation seal, which vanished into the formation in a flash.

A burst of buzzing rang out from the formation, and white spiritual light erupted to envelop Han Li's entire body.

Immediately thereafter, the spatial power within the formation began to fluctuate violently, yet just as he was about to be teleported away, a ball of green light suddenly erupted out of his robes from his chest.

His eye widened with shock as he reached out like lightning and grabbed onto the object.

However, before he had a chance to do anything else, he had been teleported away by the formation.

Meanwhile, the water in the Spirit Cleansing Pond had just returned to its original depth, and scintillating light was radiating from the stone slabs at the bottom of the lake to conceal the formation.

Within this bright light, a small yellow vial that was several inches tall was slowly floating out of the hole. The surface of the vial was riddled with dark green patterns, and silver liquid was flowing out of its opening.

After the flow of pond water ceased, a pair of black pea-sized eyes appeared on its surface, and they looked around before a humanized expression of disappointment appeared within them.

After that, the pair of eyes vanished, and the small vial sank back into the hole, while the five-colored light being released by the stone slabs also disintegrated into nothingness.

As for the hole at the center of the stone slabs, that had also vanished, as did the five-colored clouds up above after Han Li teleported out of this space. Thus, everything had returned to normal.

......

Han Li appeared in the air above a certain corner of the Bitter Spirit Island, and after inspecting his surroundings to ensure that there was no one around him, he raised his hand to reveal that there was a small palm-sized black leather pouch sitting in his grasp.

The pouch had several golden and silver talismans plastered to its surface, and Han Li removed the talismans before tipping a small green vial out of the pouch; it was none other than the mysterious small vial he had used to accelerate the growth of all of his spirit plants.

He began to carefully inspect the vial, and he discovered that the dark green patterns on its surface were flashing with faint green light.

However, the light was quickly fading, and after the span of just a few breaths, the green light completely vanished.

Han Li's brows furrowed tightly as a hint of bewilderment appeared in his eyes, but in the next instant, he suddenly raised his head before casting his gaze toward a certain direction.

He placed the vial back into the leather pouch with a flick of his wrist, and the talismans also adhered themselves back onto the pouch again.

He then made a grabbing motion, and the leather pouch instantly vanished.