Chapter 2435: Soul Badge

"Is that true?" Huo Xuzi immediately exclaimed upon hearing what the dark-skinned young man had to say, and he turned toward Han Li with a strange look in his eyes.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn't say anything.

“I've said everything there is to be said; it's up to you whether you believe me or not,” the dark-skinned young man replied in a nonchalant manner.

"Alright, I'll believe you just this once. Fellow Daoist Han, I can become your spirit servant for a period of time, but you must take me with you when you ascend to the True Immortal Realm. If you can help me recover my bonded bead after your ascension, then I can continue to be your spirit servant for several tens of thousands more years. As for the spirit servant contract, that must be created on the basis of the heavenly devil contract," Huo Xuzi said.

"As long as you're also willing to have the same restrictions planted in your body, I have no objections," Han Li replied with a smile.

A faint smile appeared on the dark-skinned young man's face upon seeing this, and he wasted no further time as he opened his mouth to expel a ball of inky-black Qi.

The ball of black Qi then transformed into a black leather scroll that slowly unfurled itself.

"I've written the terms of the contract onto the scroll. If neither of you have any objections, then please inscribe your name or insignia onto the contract with your blood essence, and also inject a wisp of your spiritual sense into the scroll."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Mo Guang led by example, opening his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence, which transformed into a pair of runes that read "Mo Guang" before inscribing themselves upon the scroll.

Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and a streak of crimson light shot out of his glabella before also vanishing into the scroll in a flash.

Han Li drew the black scroll toward himself, and after carefully examining the contract several times, he gave a pleased nod.

The terms of the contract were very similar to what had been described, and there were some even some clauses that were far less binding than he had anticipated.

As opposed to the contract, this was more like a mutual treaty, and that made Han Li a lot less apprehensive toward it.

Thus, he raised a finger and forced out a drop of blood essence onto the scroll.

The drop of blood essence had faint azure light glowing within it, and as soon as it landed on the scroll, it immediately inscribed the words "Han Li" in ancient golden characters onto the scroll's surface.

Han Li then tossed the black scroll toward Huo Xuzi, who only examined it briefly before also signing the contract in a nonchalant manner.

Immediately thereafter, the black scroll vanished into thin air, and thus, the heavenly devil contract had been erected.

"Now everything is finished here, please return with me to the human race; I'm sure I'll benefit immensely from your help in the future," Han Li said.

"Hehe, we've signed the contract, so we're naturally obligated to follow you wherever you go," Mo Guang replied.

"In that case, let's take care of one final thing before we depart," Han Li said with a nod.

"One final thing? Are you referring to the rat that's been eavesdropping on us this entire time?" Huo Xizi asked as a cold light flashed through his eyes.

As soon as his voice trailed off, a five-colored light projection suddenly emerged on the ground.

At the same time, spatial fluctuations erupted beneath Han Li and the others, and a streak of white light appeared before hurtling directly toward the light formation.

Mo Guang seemed to have already anticipated this, and he reached out in an unhurried manner, upon which a burst of peculiar power swept over the light formation on the ground, causing it to instantly explode.

The streak of white light immediately sprang back before revealing itself to be none other than that second Ming Zun.

However, his aura was significantly diminished, and he was appraising Han Li and the others with an extremely grim expression.

Han Li was completely unsurprised to see this. "Ah, so it's Fellow Daoist Ming Zun; looks like a clone of yours must've perished in your stead during the earlier battle."

"There's no way a clone would've been able to fool powerful beings of your caliber; that Ming Zun was also me, but it was only a part of me. I didn't think that you would be the sole beneficiary of my painstaking plan, Fellow Daoist Han," Ming Zun replied.

At this moment, he was feeling extremely frustrated.

He had detonated the formation earlier in Sky's Beyond, and was severely wounded by unforeseen backlash. As such, his arrival was significantly delayed, and he only made it just in time to witness Han Li landing the killing blow on Ma Liang, a turn of events that he was naturally extremely astonished by.

However, despite his dire situation, his expression remained calm and collected.

"I see. You must've used a soul-splitting technique; no wonder I didn't sense anything amiss earlier. Unfortunately for you, the formation's detonation was unable to kill that true immortal or even me; I don't think I can just let things slide," Han Li said in a bone-chilling voice.

"What would you like me to do? As long as it's within my capabilities, I definitely won't refuse. I only resorted to this plan for the sake of the entire Spirit Realm. Besides, if it weren't for the detonation of the formation, I don't think you would've been able to slay that true immortal," Ming Zun replied with a wry smile, but he was drawing upon his magic power in secret, and had also summoned several treasures that were concealed up his sleeves.

"Rest assured, Brother Ming, I won't ask for anything unreasonable; all I want is your head. Regardless of how you try to frame the situation, the fact of the matter is that you intended to use me as a sacrifice for this formation. Rest assured, once I kill you here, I'll make sure that your heroic deeds are sung as ballads throughout the entire Spirit Realm," Han Li said as a mocking look appeared on his face.

Ming Zun's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he immediately swept his sleeves through the air to release around a dozen crimson beads.

Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and a pair of thunderstorm wheels appeared beneath his feet, while a pair of snowy-white wings that were over 100 feet in length emerged on his back.

Lightning flashed from beneath his feet, and he flapped his wings vigorously, instantly fleeing into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, he was already over 10,000 feet away, and he was continuing to flee with all his might.

Han Li gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and he was just about to do something when Mo Guang stepped forward and thrust a palm through the air to release a gust of fierce black wind.

The dozen or so crimson beads were swept up by the gust of wind and exploded into crimson flames without being able to unleash any of their power.

"Leave that man to Fellow Daoist Huo and myself, Brother Han. We've just signed the heavenly devil contract, and this is a good opportunity for us to show you what we're capable of," Mo Guang said with a smile as he withdrew his arm.

Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before turning toward Huo Xuzi, who was already raring to go, and he agreed, "Alright, I'll be counting on you then, fellow daoists. That man is not to be underestimated, so do be careful."

"Haha, rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han; I can kill that man even on my own," Huo Xuzi chortled as he transformed into his crimson wyrm form before setting off in pursuit.

Mo Guang also followed along closely behind him as a black line, and in the blink of an eye, both of them had vanished into the distant sky.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he released a small golden beetle out of his sleeve, then instructed, "Jin Tong, follow them, but make sure they don't detect your presence."

The golden beetle nodded in response before shrinking down to less than a tenth of its original size, then also set off as a faint shadow.

Only then did Han Li withdraw his gaze before flipping a hand over to summon a shimmering golden storage bracelet. He then inspected the contents of the storage bracelet with his spiritual sense, and an ecstatic look immediately appeared on his face.

A burst of spiritual light flashed before him, and three treasures appeared, comprised of a small dark green vial, a silver gourd, and a jade badge that was looking rather worse-for-wear.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense over these items before drawing the silver gourd into his grasp before removing the lid, then tipped out a pair of shimmering golden pills.

"I didn't think that he would have spare True Soul Pills in addition to the one that he took! The True Soul Pill that I found on that Yang Deer's body had to have been from him as well," Han Li murmured to himself with undisguised excitement in his eyes.

However, he then immediately stowed the two pills and the silver gourd away before reaching out to grab the small green vial.

After a brief inspection, the vial was also stowed away, following which Han Li cast his gaze toward the jade badge, which had several crimson cracks on its surface.

"This soul badge definitely doesn't belong to the true immortal I just killed. Otherwise, it would've already completely shattered. Who could it belong to, and why did he carry it down into the Spirit Realm? Could it be that the owner of this soul badge is currently in the Spirit Realm?" Han Li murmured to himself with his brows furrowed in befuddlement.

"It won't be a difficult task to find out, Fellow Daoist Han; all you need to do is unleash a certain secret technique onto the badge, and you'll be able to know whether its owner is in this realm," Daoist Xie suddenly said.