Chapter 84: The Mystery of the Seal

"Great-uncle, are you and the senior leaving already?" Xiao Zhan asked with some regret.

Xiao Han nodded, "The Xiao Clan only needs to maintain its current momentum of development now; there are still many things I haven't handled well..."

At the mention of this, Xiao Han couldn't help but picture in his mind the Ancestor who was suffering from boundless loneliness in the Heavenly Tomb; it was time to start preparing for certain things.

"Then I wish you a safe journey, Great-uncle. The Xiao Clan won't run into any trouble," Xiao Zhan assured Xiao Han.

"Hmm." Afterward, Xiao Han called out to Yi Huang and Xian'er, and the three figures—two adults and one child—vanished from everyone's sight.

After standing still for a long time, Xiao Zhan also turned and returned.

Yaori Mountain Range.

A pitch-black void suddenly appeared above the empty space, and a figure in white walked out with a solemn expression; it was none other than Xiao Han.

After closing his eyes to sense the area, Xiao Han reached out and gripped the air at a certain spot. Immediately, a portal opened, then closed silently again, but Xiao Han's figure had already vanished without a trace.

"What happened to the seal?" Upon seeing that familiar figure, Xiao Han immediately stepped forward and asked.

Thinking about it, Xiao Han couldn't help but sigh at his own life of toil; he had only just returned to the Langya Pavilion when he received the message Yunlei Jingling had sent via a Token.

He then had no choice but to rush toward the Yaori Mountain Range without stopping, under Yi Huang's resentful gaze.

He had made up his mind: if Yunlei Jingling didn't give him a clear explanation, he would definitely teach him a lesson he would never forget.

"One of the seals has been broken." Yunlei Jingling glanced at Xiao Han and, without wasting words, stated his problem directly.

"Other places?" Xiao Han's expression turned stern. A broken seal was no small matter; heaven knows how much trouble those monsters and demons would cause once they escaped.

"What happened? How could the seal be broken?" Xiao Han suppressed the anxiety in his heart and began to seek the cause.

This was a seal personally set by the Ice Spirit Great Emperor, which had lasted for tens of thousands of years without any issues; how could it be broken now?

Moreover, Xiao Han glanced covertly at Yunlei Jingling. This guy was clearly the weakest one, and the seal he guarded hadn't had any accidents, so how could other seals fall into chaos?

"Hey, human," Yunlei Jingling keenly sensed Xiao Han's gaze, "This Saint feels like you have some bad ideas."

"Which seal?" Ignoring Yunlei Jingling's questioning, Xiao Han asked in confusion.

"I don't know." Seeming to sense Xiao Han's astonishment, Yunlei Jingling's voice rose slightly.

"I really don't know. Originally, we each guarded one of the eleven seals. I can only vaguely sense a problem, but I really can't find out exactly where the problem is."

"Fine," Xiao Han temporarily gave up on the method of searching, then continued to ask, "Can you guess the reason?"

"There are many reasons." Although this was a bit like prying into secrets, Yunlei Jingling did not avoid Xiao Han's question, just frowned in thought, "Either the guy guarding it exhausted their power and perished prematurely, or the guy inside was too strong and broke it by force..."

"Wait, exhausted power..." Xiao Han couldn't help but interrupt Yunlei Jingling, saying in astonishment: "Could it be that your power is gradually weakening?"

He then looked at the guy opposite him with suspicion, "Are you sure?" This young man's current strength was at least that of a Three-Star Dou Sheng; was he joking about having such strength after weakening for so many years?

Wouldn't that mean he must have had the strength of a Peak Dou Sheng or even a Half-Emperor back then? And if Xiao Han remembered correctly, he was supposed to be the weakest one, right?

Wouldn't that mean his brothers and sisters were heaven-defying?

"I am an exception," Yunlei Jingling guessed Xiao Han's misgivings and explained, "My power was indeed constantly weakening in the past."

"But about a few thousand years ago, I suddenly woke up from my slumber and discovered that I seemed to be able to merge with the sealing array, using the array to absorb energy from the outside world to cultivate."

"Over these many years, not only have I recovered to my original strength, but I have even made breakthroughs and reached a higher level."

"Strange!" Xiao Han thought to himself.

"How does your array operate?" Hearing this, Xiao Han asked. Based on what the other party said, it seemed they shouldn't have been able to cultivate while guarding the seal, and they had to divert their attention to suppress it; how could their strength not decline over time?

"Eleven seals together form a grand array, which we suppress separately. There is no energy within the seals, so one cannot cultivate."

"The function of the array is to balance the power within each seal. Whenever the things inside the seal try to break through, it transfers our excess power to the corresponding location through the array."

"If a seal is broken, it will cause a serious chain reaction, and all the seals will be greatly weakened. However, this situation has only happened once so far." Yunlei Jingling paused, his brows furrowed; clearly, this was that one time.

He then continued: "And whenever the creatures in a seal become extinct, all the power will be transferred to the remaining seals to reinforce them."

At this point, Yunlei Jingling couldn't help but lower his head and sigh: "Actually, this is just letting us use our long lives to fight a war of attrition with the guys in the seals."

"When the time for the seal ends, we might also be at the end of our rope."

He then couldn't help but glance at Xiao Han and said unkindly: "If not for this, do you think you could have successfully refined the Extreme Cold Crystal?"

When Yunlei Jingling fought Xiao Han, he discovered that the temperature of Xiao Han's Fighting Energy was abnormally low; if he hadn't been a manifestation of Heavenly Ice, he probably would have been frozen into an icicle long ago.

Since that was the case, Xiao Han's successful refinement of the Extreme Cold Crystal naturally couldn't be hidden from him.

After all, besides the characteristic of coldness, Heavenly Ice, like most Exotic Fire, possessed some unique abilities; for example, Yunlei Jingling himself could control Thunderstorms.

And the only exception to this was the Extreme Cold Crystal, the Heavenly Ice that truly extended coldness to the extreme.

This was entirely Xiao Han's good luck; the ranking of the Extreme Cold Crystal was enough to make it into the top five. If it hadn't been consumed for countless years and its strength hadn't been less than one ten-thousandth of its prime, how could Xiao Han have picked up such a bargain?

And it was this long-term nourishment that allowed the power of the Extreme Cold Crystal to gradually recover, even approaching its original peak.

"Uh..." Hearing Yunlei Jingling's words, Xiao Han could only smile helplessly. He had never thought about so much back then, and fortunately, that seal had dissipated; otherwise, he figured his cultivation career would have ended just like that.

"So, what did you bring me here for?" However, Xiao Han immediately reacted; the seals in other places were broken, so why did this guy have him come over?

With his strength, he didn't need his help at all! However, Xiao Han had also made up his mind that if he could help, he would; building a relationship wasn't bad either.

"I hope you can go into the seal and investigate the situation inside."

However, Yunlei Jingling's next words made Xiao Han's eyes go dead instantly, and he just looked at the other party like that, "Are you trying to get me killed?"

The meaning was conveyed to Yunlei Jingling just that clearly.